


Ego-centric

by Jackie_Boi (DontMindMeImJustAMeme)



Series: Man's Ego [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Alter Egos, Dark is an Edge Lord™, Gen, Go do you, I got nothing against septiplier tho, I'm not judging, I'm really bad at summaries tbh, I'm really bad at this if u can't tell, Kidnapping, Matpat is so confused, NO SEPTIPLIER ITS PLATONIC OKAY, So is Anti, Torture, Underground Prisons, how does one tag, probably anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 17:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 29,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15801591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontMindMeImJustAMeme/pseuds/Jackie_Boi
Summary: Mark, Jack, Nate and Matpat were all living happy, normal lives until these mysterious strangers all break into their houses and kidnap them. Who are these people? What do they want with a bunch of normal people? Maybe they aren't so normal after all...





	1. What If...

It was a beautiful sunny day - a perfect day to collaborate and make a YouTube video with your friends! Mark was sitting on the sofa next to Nate and Jack. He was staring directly into the camera ready to finish off with his outro.

"Thanks, everyone so much for watching and as always I'll see YOU in the next video. Buh-bye!" Mark exclaimed.

Mark walked backwards and fell onto the couch. As much as he loved recording videos with his friends, it took a lot out of him. He sighed as he slouched on the couch trying to get comfortable. Mark sighed exhaustedly and closed his eyes.

"Tired, huh?" Matpat, another friend of his asked.

"Yeah, " Mark groaned, continuing to slump back.

"Me too, " Matpat said while standing up and stretching his back.

"Well, you guys go do you, Ima get going, " Nate stated.

"See ya!" Jack giggled.

Nate said his goodbyes before exiting the room. Now, it was just Mark, Jack and Matpat. It has been a while since the four YouTubers all hung out together and goofed around, so it was nice to see them again. Jack was staying over in America for a week to be in one of Mark's videos with Nate and Matpat tagging along. They all made a stupid challenge video where the loser had to eat gross foods. Mark kept losing and always had to eat something nasty like a bunch of baby foods all combined in one or cat food, while Matpat kept repeatedly swearing. Nate sat back and watched in awe as he contemplated how he kept it in during the live streams.

The second person to leave was Matpat who stated that he couldn't go another minute with his sweet, precious diet coke. He waved and smiled brightly before turning around and walked through the door. It was now only Mark and Jack.

"Hey..." Jack began. "I know this sounds random, but what if our alter egos were real?"

"Wow, that is random, " Mark uttered. "Hmm... They'd probably try to kill us, cause we're so dumb and all."

"You're probably right, " Jack chuckled. "Anyway, I'll see ya around Mark!"

"See ya around man, " Mark replied.

As Jack left, Mark couldn't help but think about the Irish man's odd question. What would happen if they were real? They'd all team up and destroy or take over the world most likely. Good thing they were just fictional fan creations and nothing more.

Mark rolled off the couch and left the room taking his camera with him. With the help of Kathryn and Ethan, they all edited and finished the video. Now it was ready to be uploaded tomorrow. Mark leaned back in his chair in his recording room. Man, was he exhausted alright. He felt like he could fall asleep right there.

Suddenly, the room began to dim. The calm atmosphere was now thick and full of tension and coldness. Where had all the light gone?

"Hey-" Mark tried to speak but was cut off by something coiling itself around Mark's legs. He swiftly jumped up at the sensation, his breathing quickening and his heart beginning to pound rapidly. The thing didn't stop wrapping itself around Mark, now moving up towards his torso. The thing was like tendrils of thick, cold darkness that had a mind of its own. What on earth was happening?

The shadows continued to curl around Mark, slowly encasing him in darkness. His world flipped upside down figuratively and literally. No matter how much Mark struggled and scratched at the shadows they wouldn't stop, further increasing Marks terror. His eyes were blown wide as he struggled to inhale and exhale air. This is a nightmare, it has to be. He just dozed off on his chair and he'll wake up any second.

Mark screwed his eyes shut and waited for three seconds before opening his eyes again. He was still there, his body continuing to sink in darkness. He then tried to pinch himself and to his horror, it hurt.

The half Korean tried to cry out for help but for some reason, he couldn't form words. It was like it all piled up in the back of his throat, causing him to choke and gag. He was panicking, who wouldn't? Soon, his whole body was engulfed by darkness. It felt like he was drowning; he couldn't breathe. Mark flailed his arms and opened his mouth to scream and shout, but no sound came out. He was helpless, completely at the shadows mercy.

Mark began to struggle even more trying to claw away at the darkness. It was like he was stuck in this infinite void. He couldn't feel, see or hear a thing. Sensory deprivation was truly maddening. His throat tightened as his heart continued to thump within his chest. It felt like his heart was throwing itself back and forth, constantly slamming itself into his ribcage.

He felt himself starting to pass out from oxygen deprivation. Oh God, am I going to die? Mark thought. No, I don't want to die! What the hell is happening? The YouTuber suddenly heard a deep echoing voice that sounded just like him. He heard him speak only one word to him before he slipped into unconsciousness.

" **Sleep**."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this chapter sucks let's hope it gets better.


	2. Trapped

Mark slowly awakened and held his head in his hands. What happened? He groaned as he shook his head trying to snap out of his groggy state. He laid there on the cold concrete floor for about a minute, before lifting himself up on his knees. He felt nauseous as the world around him spun.

He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them. Everything was a bit blurred, but he could make out a few details. He noticed he definitely wasn't in his room anymore or in any part of his house really. In fact, he was sure this wasn't a house at all. The room was more like a prison cell with stained cement walls and an iron bars in front of him, locking him inside the tiny space. There was a window that had iron bars for glass on either side of the wall, connecting his chamber with the others.

He crawled over to the iron bars and clasped his hands tight around the rods. With all his strength he lifted himself up using the poles as support. When he finally got to his feet, he rested his forehead against the cold iron bars that imprisoned him. He tried to calm down and steady his breathing, but nothing seemed to work. He was trapped, alone, isolated. There was no one around to help him.

He mustered up all of his courage and began calling out for help. He screamed for somebody, anybody, but no one replied. Was he trapped down here all alone? Was he going to die? Why would they do this to him? Mark gritted his teeth and choked back a sob. He has to find a way out, but how?

He scanned the room. There was a part of the iron bars that looked like some sort of door. It had a metal outline of one and had a lock that was wrapped in heavy chains. He scrambled over and kneeled down in front of the lock. He rattled, pulled and tugged at the chains sharply with all his might, but they did not budge one bit. The sound of the chains rattling echoed down the long hallway lined with other cells loudly which made Mark anxious. If there really were people down here, they would surely hear him.

Mark then clutched the iron door and constantly rammed it back and forward. The banging only became louder and louder, his movement becoming more erratic. He was desperate. He wanted to see Amy again, as well as Tyler, Ethan, Kathryn... Everyone. He missed them all, and he had only been down here for a few...

Oh God, how long has he been down here? Mark came to a stop and bit his lip. He could have been gone for days now that he thinks about it. He was hungry and even more thirster. His throat was dry and his stomach roared. Was he going to starve down here? He was going to die alone, wasn't he?

He leaned his back against one of the walls and slid down. He hugged his knees and buried his face into his legs. He felt like crying. He was crying. Beads of tears slowly rolled down his cheeks and fell onto his grey, sleeveless shirt. He wanted to get out of here so much. The tight space made him feel weak, hopeless and claustrophobic.

Suddenly, Mark heard footsteps coming towards his cell. They were running fast, that's all Mark knew. He didn't know who this was or what they wanted with him. Were they an ally or an enemy? Panic began to bubble up inside him. What if they wanted to kill him? What if they wanted to torture him? He scrambled to his feet and whipped away his tears. If anything, he wasn't going to give up. He was going to try, even if he fails.

The closer the footsteps were, the more anxious Mark became. He was doubting himself big time. He didn't really know how to fight people, it wasn't his thing. What if these people are armed with knives or guns. There would be no way he would be able to win, it would be suicide. His hands and legs began to tremble. The more he thought, the more the situation seemed to worsen. Was he ever going to see daylight again?

The footsteps became dangerously close, and Marks anxiety rose through the roof. He was definitely going to die by the hands of this person. Was this some kind of red room? Did those even exist? Then again, he was kidnapped by darkness itself, anything seemed possible at this point.

As the person drew closer, Mark noticed some kind of jangling noise. Was he holding something? The noise sounded metallic and light which made Marks imagination go haywire. He didn't even want to know what kind of sick torture device the man was holding. He felt like he was going to vomit or pass out. His heart wouldn't stop thrashing in his chest. Was he having a heart attack?

Then the mysterious man stood right in front of Marks cell. The half Korean closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Time seemed to slow down. Beads of sweat trickled down his neck as he anticipated for the worst. He was perplexed when he heard a familiar voice utter his name.

"Mark?"

Mark wrenched open his eyes.

"Jack!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update:
> 
> It did not get better.


	3. Dark

Right in front of Mark stood Jack. He noticed that the Irish man had a fresh bruise forming around his left eye. Jack stood still for a short moment before going to work. He lifted a metal circle that he grasped in his left hand and began searching through the keys that were connected to it. The jingling sound, it was the sound of keys!

He kept trying every different key obviously not knowing which one was the one that opened the cell door. Mark mentally told him to hurry up, wanting to be out of this place as soon as possible. Jack kept scrambling through the keys - there were so many. He kept repeatedly testing them until he found the right one.

Click! The cell door swung open with a metallic whine, the bottom of the door scraping along the hard floor. Mark practically jumped out of his cell and embraced Jack. He glad to see him alright. He thought he was really going to die down here, cold and alone. Mark once again felt like crying, but he forced the tears back.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing here!" Mark asked. While he was thankful and everything, he was concerned about why Jack was here with him too. He was absolutely positive it was nothing good.

"I don't know, " Jack stated, running his hand through his brown hair. "All I remember is being hit with something hard then passing out."

"Well, let's get out of here before who knows what shows up!" Mark exclaimed.

Jack nodded as he turned towards the opposite way he came from. He had no idea where the exit was or where he was. All he knew was that they were underground in an abandoned prison. Jack guessed it was some sort of top-secret government location that the world does want you to know about. It was unnerving and scary, knowing that they just leave these buildings and not demolish them.

"Let's go this way!" Jack yelled.

"Yeah, okay, " Mark agreed hastily.

The two YouTubers started their way down the dark hallway. Their shoes made soft tapping sounds against the floor. Some of the lights above them flickered violently, making the environment even more creepy and disturbing. It was like something out of a horror film or game. The only difference was that it was real, not like some VR experience where you know it's all fake despite still being scared out of your wits.

They continued down the hallway when they saw stairs leading up. The Irish man and half Korean both scurried up the steps as fast as they could. They ran even faster when they saw a metal door; one that was open. Hope surged through the two men. This could be the exit and they'd be home far away from this place. This would all just be a bad memory, like a dream.

Mark reached up but to his horror, the door slammed shut. He almost fell back, accidentally hitting Jack in the stomach. Jack cursed in pain as he clutched his stomach with his arms.

"What the fuck man?" Jack hissed.

When Jack didn't hear Mark answer, he gazed up. He was surprised to see that the door that was once open was now closed. Jack pushed past Mark, who was still bewildered by the door moving on its own, and tugged at the doors handle. It was locked.

"Mark, what the hell did you do?" Jack boasted.

"I-I didn't do anything, I swear! It closed on its own!" Mark sputtered.

Jack tried ramming his side into the door. Maybe it was just stuck. After all, this place must be decades old at this point. His arm and the door collided. The door didn't dislodge like the two YouTubers hoped for. It didn't even budge at all. Now they were both panicking. Who locked the door?

" **I'm sorry boys but... I don't appreciate people trying to break my stuff** , " a deep voice boomed. Mark recognized this voice. It was the same voice that told him to sleep when he was drowning in the thick, cold darkness. A shiver ran down his spine. What could this man want with him, and why did he sound like him as well?

"W-who the hell are you, and... And what do you want with us!" Mark stuttered.

" **Who am I?** " the voice began. " **Well... I'm** **you**."

Mark was stunned. He was... me? What on planet earth does that mean!

" **And as for what I want with you** , " the voice continued. " **I simply need you two to behave so we can finally be free**."

"We?" Mark inquired.

" **Yes, there are others like me. Now, you and the rest of your friends will acquit yourselves properly until we are ready. Don't test me**."

"Wait, the rest of our friends!" Jack questioned.

" **Hmm, you don't know? There are two other people besides the others like me down here. People that you know**."

"Who the hell are they, tell me!" Jack screamed. He was angry, very angry. One of his friends was already subjected to this madness, and now there's two more?

" **You really need to learn how to control your temper. You're just like _him_** , " the voice growled darkly. " **As for the others down here, I believe their names are Nathan and Matthew, or whoever you were making a collaboration with**."

Mark and Jack's eyes widened. No way, Nate and Matpat were here too! But how? They both went home shortly after they finished recording. How could they have been dragged into this mess as well?

"You bastard... Where are they!" Mark thundered.

" **Unfortunately for you, I have no clue. You'll just have to ask the others if they don't attack you first. But there's no need to be afraid, we don't want you dead. In fact, it's quite the opposite, we need you alive for _it_ to work**."

"For what to work?" Jack shouted.

" **You two ask far too many questions for your own good. Haven't you two heard? Curiosity killed the cat** , " the voice chuckled darkly.

"Then... Then at least tell us your name!" Mark exclaimed.

" **My name?** " the voice began. " **I believe I'm what your fans call me... Darkiplier**."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for my trash writing guys please forgive me father.


	4. The Lucky Knife

Nate woke up in a cold, dark room, his ears ringing loudly in his head. His head felt like it weighed 100 tonnes as he rolled onto his back on the concrete floor. As he tried to get up onto his feet, he realised that his hands were tied behind his back. He struggled and pulled his arms and hands, but he only succeeds in tearing the skin on his wrist. The musician leaned his back against the wall and pushed himself up with his legs, using the cement wall for support. He kept his back pressed up against the wall and hanged his head backwards. He sighed and gently closed his eyes trying to mentally answer all of his questions.

Who? He was Nathan. He has a YouTube channel and made music and sang. What? Before he suddenly blacked out when he was relaxing at home, he made a video with Mark, Jack and Matpat. When? He had no idea. He had no view of the sky, he didn’t have his phone and there was no watch or clock. Where? Once again, no idea. He woke up in some sort of cell. Everything was made of concrete, there were iron bars that separates him from freedom and a single light that sparked and flickered above him. Why? Who knows? This could all just be some vivid dream. It looks real. The horrid stench of something that smells like sulphur and old laundry detergent flooded his nose. His body felt stiff like it was made of solid stone.

Nate decided to struggle against his restraint one more time and winced at the burning pain that he felt in his wrists. Pain. He actually felt pain. He snapped open his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. He was trapped with the only exit, the iron bar gate, locked. A wave of panic washed over him. He was actually kidnapped. The realisation of the dire situation hit him hard like someone smashed a metal chair over his head. Who was his capturer? What did they want with him? Sure, Nate probably had a few enemies, but not even them are extreme enough to go to this length to make his life miserable.

He pushed himself off the wall and started towards the iron bars. He tried repeatedly kicking the iron rods hoping that they will become loose and break. They didn't even move an inch. He then tried kicking the door itself. He tried to strike as close to where the lock was with his foot and almost fell backwards. The chains around the lock jiggled and rattled but would give. It was hopeless.

Suddenly, he heard two pairs of footsteps and a lot of shouting

"What the fuck was that Mark?"

"I don't know! Why are you asking me?"

Was that! No... Could it be? Nate shook his head and kept listening.

"Where the hell are we now?"

"Who knows..."

The two voices sounded like... Like Jack and Mark! But how? Why were they both down here with him? What's going on?

"H-hello?" Nate stammered.

The two voices that sound suspiciously like Mark and Jack both stopped bickering and walking. Nate heard them whispering something before jogging towards him. _Oh God, what if I'd just lured my kidnapper_ _and to be killer to_ _me?_ Nate thought. _What if they weren't Mark and Jack?_

Two figures then abruptly stood in front of his cell. The light wasn't bright, but just bright enough to be able to see their faces. It was Mark and Jack! Nate sighed in relief. Perhaps he would be saved by the two YouTubers and be able to escape this nightmare.

"Oh thank God there you are!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, holy shit man. We were afraid you would be dead by the time we found you, " Mark said running his hand through his raven hair.

"Oh wow. Gee thanks, guys. I'm glad you two had such great faith in me, " Nate remarked sarcastically. "Wait, you guys knew I was down here?"

"Yep, " Jack replied popping the 'P'. "And you're not the only one."

"Fuck, who else?" Nate inquired.

"Matpat."

Nate took a step back in surprise. "They got matt? No fucking way..."

"Yeah, and me too, " Mark added. "So we better hurry and help you out, find Matpat then get the hell out of here."

"Right."

In one swift motion, Jack began fiddling with the keys he had in his possession. He kept searching until he found the right one. He slipped it into the lock and turned the key. There was a click, then the sound of the metal chains all hitting the floor.

"Aha!" Jack cheered. "Now you're free!"

"Almost..." Nate sighed. He turned around to reveal ropes tied tightly around his wrists. His skin looked red and irritated. He obviously tried to break free, maybe a little too hard. Jack and Mark both shoved their hands into their pockets and tried to find anything sharp they could use to cut the ropes. Nothing.

"Uhh... Wait here. I'm gonna try and find something to use. I'll be right back!" Jack said before running off. As Mark and Nate waited, they heard the sounds of doors opening and closing. What was Jack doing? The Irish man suddenly came rushing back waving something shiny that he has clasped in his hand.

"Guys, guys! I found something that might work!" Jack shouted.

"Holy shit is that a pocket knife?" Mark screeched.

"Yeah!"

"Where the hell did you find that?" Nate bellowed.

"On the ground."

"What! You don't just- you know what! Fine. Whatever, just cut these damn ropes!" Mark pointed his fingers at Nate's restraints.

Jack nodded and trotted over to Nate. He leaned down and gingerly began cutting the rope. Nate was a nervous train wreck. He was afraid Jack was going to slice his hands or fingers off. One by one, the rope snapped in half until it fell loosely from Nate's wrists and fell into a pile on the floor. Nate rubbed his cut and rashed skin and exhaled.

"Thank you guys, so damn much, " Nate gushed.

"Anytime man, " Mark chatted slapping the musician gently on the back.

"Well, " Jack began. "Time to find Matt."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, another horrible chapter horray! iwannadie


	5. Distorted Voices

Not before long they were running down the hallways completely lost. Everything looked the same and the hallways stretched out for what seems like miles. Mark, Jack and Nate were tired and hungry. They wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. In fact, they wanted to leave now but they can’t. Not without Matpat.

They made their way down another long hallway and continued to drag their legs behind them. Their legs were aching and sore, their muscles burned and their whole bodies felt like jello. The hallway continued to stretch down until they reached another turn. The group of YouTubers all groaned exasperatedly and followed the concrete path. It felt like they were doing this for hours. They were getting nowhere. There was no sign of Matpat and no sign of an exit. After about an hour of running, Nate came to a sudden stop.

"Guys, something's wrong; super wrong, " Nate said.

"Yeah, no shit, " Mark remarked.

"No, I mean we've been walking around in circles for almost 2 hours now, " Nate observed. "Don't you think we should have found a door already?"

It's true. The hallways stretched on for hours and everything looked the same as if someone had copied and pasted everything over and over and over. It was disorienting. It greatly confused Nate and the rest of the group. Why haven't they found anything yet? They have been going in circles and running down endless hallways and have been getting nowhere closer to finding Matpat.

"Now that I think about you're totally right!" Jack exclaimed.

"Right! So what's going on?" Nate asked himself.

What could be possibly be causing these illusion like hallways? It was like a funhouse except it wasn't fun at all. It was quite the opposite. Walking down through the prison was pointless and tiring. They all knew that out of all the possible enemies and monsters fatigue will be the most challenging to fight out of them all. It's like carrying a bundle of weights on your back while running through an obstacle course.

Mark, Jack and Nate all continue to run down the hallway until Mark suddenly gets a very strange idea. He stops and turns around, facing back where he came from.

"Why'd you stop?" Nate inquired.

"What if it's one of those really trippy things were you have to run back from where you came from to escape?" Mark suggested.

"That sounds very unlikely but at this point, I'm willing to try anything. Let's to it, " Nate agrees.

They all began to sprint backwards running past a number of cells. It was ridiculous on how big the facility was. It seemed impossibly huge. As they kept on running, they began to run out of breath. They all stopped and leaned their backs against the wall.

"Yeah, that's not working Mark, " Nate commented.

"Well, it was worth a shot, " Mark replied.

Abruptly, the world around them began to shake. Mark was thrown off balance and fell to the floor. Jack fell sidewards and clasped the wall beside him for dear life as Nate tripped over himself. Manic laughter ripped through the silence and echoed down the hallway. The voice, like the last one, sounded very familiar. It sounded like Jack this  
time.

"F̸i̸n̷a̶l̴l̵y̴,̵ ̵t̴o̴o̷k̷ ̴y̴o̴u̸ ̴l̶i̵t̴t̵l̷e̸ ̴s̴h̸i̶t̷s̵ ̵l̸o̴n̷g̴ ̷e̵n̷o̷u̸g̴h̵" The voice boomed.

He sounded distorted and glitchy. He certainly wasn't human, but the group can't help but freak out about how much it sounded like Jack. It was crazy. If the last guy was supposedly Darkiplier, could this be Antisepticeye, Jack's alter ego? No, that's insane. They don't exist. They were fan-made creations and nothing more. It's impossible for them to be real. Is it?

"Who the hell are you!" Jack screamed. "And why do you sound like me!"

"W̶h̸o̷ ̵a̴m̶ ̸I̸?̶" The voice began. "I̸'̴m̴ ̴A̵n̸t̸i̷ ̵o̶f̵ ̷c̸o̷u̸r̶s̷e̶.̶ ̸D̸o̷n̷'̸t̵ ̷y̷o̶u̷ ̶r̶e̶m̵e̸m̸b̸e̷r̶ ̴m̷e̸?̴"

Anti. Of course, his name was Anti.

Everyone was beyond terrified at this point. First Dark and now Anti? Who else are they going to meet? Just how many are there? What do they even want with them? They are just YouTubers. Maybe they're jealous or something. Maybe this is over something really petty. Either way, it's not looking good.

"What do you want with us!" Nate shouted.

"T̸h̶e̷ ̷s̶a̴m̶e̷ ̸t̵h̶i̵n̸g̷ ̸D̶a̶r̴k̵ ̶w̶a̵n̸t̵s̶;̴ ̶f̷r̷e̴e̵d̶o̷m̴, " Anti replied.

Freedom? What did they mean by that? The other ego said something about being free as well, but what's holding them back in the first place. They seem pretty powerful, so why couldn't they just leave here?

"What does that have to do with us!" Mark roared.

"T̸h̷a̴t̸'̸s̷ ̶a̶ ̵s̷u̵r̷p̵r̷i̶s̸e̴, " Anti cackled. "Y̶o̷u̷'̶l̵l̷ ̸j̶u̶s̸t̵ ̶h̶a̵v̵e̵ ̴t̷o̴ ̷w̷a̷i̷t̵ ̴a̶n̵d̸ ̴s̷e̸e̸."

Suddenly, everything went still and quiet. Just a minute ago everything was chaos and now it all has dramatically calmed down. It was unnerving. There was no more crazed laughter from Anti and the world stopped spinning and twisting. The ego disappeared just like that. Everything just froze in time, not even the air dared to move. The suspense was killing the three YouTubers. Was anything else going to happen? Are they in danger?

They all got to their feet slowly, as if any sudden and sharp movements would trigger another tremor. Mark rubbed his aching side and gritted his teeth. He fell directly on his hip and it hurt, badly. He was sure that was going to leave a big, ugly bruise.

When Jack took a few cautious steps forward, he saw a door he hadn't seen before. It wasn't there a moment ago, where did it come from? The Irish man gingerly reached out his hand for the handle when it suddenly turned. He jumped back in fear wondering who or what was on the other side of that door. Perhaps it was one of the egos like Dark or Anti, or maybe it was a blood-thirsty monster who fantasizes about ripping them to bloody shreds.  
  
The door slowly opens as Jack's heart was pounding rapidly in his chest. Whoever or whatever is on the other side of the door; are they going to kill him and his friends? A figure walks out and to their shock, the three YouTubers immediately recognize who it is. There's no way, but here he is standing right in front of them with wide eyes.

"Matpat?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy another chapter!
> 
> WoW iM sO cOnSiStAnT


	6. The Anxious Husband

“What the hell are you guys doing here?”

The theorist stood in bewilderment as he saw Mark, Jack and Nate, the three YouTubers he last saw before he was drugged, knocked out and taken here. He was certain the drug was still in his system because he still felt groggy, nauseous and dizzy, not to mention a killer headache. He squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe the drug caused him to hallucinate? He reopened his eyes and gazed forward. Yep, still there.

“H-how in the world?...” Matpat stuttered.

"Yeah, pretty crazy, right?" Nate remarked.

Matpat still couldn't comprehend the fact that this was not a dream, and now his friends, in the flesh, are here with him? It's like something out of a movie but only this time it's real. Every single second of this nightmarish world was real, a reality he didn't want to deal with.

"Come on, we can't stand around here all day. We gotta find a way out!" Mark exclaimed.

Jack and Nate nodded while Matpat just stared at him like he was brain-dead. Was this really happening? But... How? He immediately thought back to when he had felt that sharp syringe needle yanked into the side of his neck and shivered. There was most likely some extremely bad substances in the liquid drug and every drop of it had been in his system. That's totally what he was hoping for when he got home after shoving spoons of hot chile in his mouth because he'd rather do that, then die of cinnamon related asphyxiation. He was home alone that day, so Stephanie, his wife, should be okay, right? What if she came home early and was drugged and kidnapped as well? What happened to her? Is she okay? What about their child Ollie; is he okay too?

Matpat panicked. His heartbeat quickened along with his breathing. His hands began to tremble as his own breathing suddenly became loud, far too loud, like bees buzzing in his ears. His world began to blur and spin as he thought about every negative scenario his mind could conjure up. The thoughts swirled around in his head while he twiddled his thumbs. What if Stephanie and Ollie are down here too? What if they're being held as a prisoner in one of these cells? What if they were being experimented on by the sick bastard who captured him? What if they were dead? What if... What if... What if...

"Woah dude, are you okay?" Mark warily asked the brunette who was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

Matpat couldn't speak. Everything he wants to say is stuck in his throat almost choking him. He simply shook his head 'no'. He was too overwhelmed to do or say anything else.

"Okay, just control your breathing. Take deep breaths in and out, " Mark instructed him.

Breathe. That sounded easy enough. Matpat took in a big gulp of air before exhaling. He continued to repeat this over and over just like Mark said. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.

"Alright, now try listing five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste, " Mark insisted.

Matpat nodded with tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He tore his gaze from Mark to everything else around him. He could see Jack, Nate, the flickering lights, the iron bars and the metal chains that hung loosely from the cells locks. He could feel the warmth of Marks tight and firm grip around his wrist, as well as tears falling down his hot, flushed face, his messy hair softly brushing against his forehead and his leather jacket keeping the air inside cool due to it being insulated. He could hear his own steady breathing, the faint buzzing noise that was generated from the flashing ceiling lights and the dripping of water echoing down the hallway. He could smell the odour of his own deodorant and the foul stench of sulphur. He could taste the dryness of his mouth, presumably from being unconscious or from the drug.

Things began to become less crazy as it seemed. Before, everything was happening 100x faster that Matpat could grasp, but now everything has slowed down including his heart. He was still worried, sure, but his chest began to relax as the tightness reduced. His emotions weren't clouding his mind anymore. He was still anxious, but he was going to be okay.

He wiped away his tears. His breathing was still trembling but it wasn't to the point he felt like he was going to suffocate. He took one last deep breath before speaking.

"Okay... I-I'm sorry I just-"

"Hey, I get it, it's okay. Just try to stay calm alright? I know this isn't easy, " Mark reassured him with a slight smile.

"If it makes you feel better, we're the only humans here so don't worry about Steph, " Jack informed. "She's not here, so she's not in danger."

Matpat felt a wave of relief wash over him. They were safe and that what matters the most. The only thing he's got to do now is figuring out how to escape from this place. He's unsure, but with Mark, Jack and Nate on his side he knows he can do it. The four of them were a team and if they stuck together, they'd be unstoppable.

Abruptly in the middle of thinking, Matpat realised something. "Wait, Jack, you said humans. What... What does that mean?" The word choice felt odd and strange to the theorist. Something wasn't right or natural. They weren't alone.

Jack paused briefly, a look of uncertainty plastered on his face as he replied. "We aren't the only ones here. There's someone else - something else - down here with us."

Matpat covered his mouth with his hands to prevent him from screaming and freaking out. Something else was here too? The use of the word 'thing' didn't seem any more positive.

"Don't worry though! They said they wanted us alive, " Jack quickly added. He didn't want to trigger another attack. Seeing Matt like that wrecked his heart, especially when he was so used to seeing him extremely happy and confident.

Matpat scoffed. "Alive for what?" He croaked.

Suddenly, dark laughter ripped through the silence that built between the YouTubers. Just like before it sounded similar, though this time it wasn't Mark nor Jack, it sounded like... Nate?

" _Alive for what you say?_ " The voice cooed. " _Long enough for us to enjoy the show! After all, you are the main attractions._ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been more active! 
> 
>  
> 
> Not that you guys care :/ nobody even reads this.


	7. A Siren's Song

Main attractions? What kind of sick experiment do these things have planned for them? Were they going to kill them? Or maybe they were going to torture them brutally before ripping their intestines out. Whatever the egos had arranged shook the four YouTubers to their core because they knew it would be nothing even remotely close to good.

"I'm sick of all of these broad answers! What. Are. You. Going. To. Do. With. Us?" Marked growled.

" _Feisty, I like that_ , " the voice remarked. " _Anyway, I'm Natemare if you couldn't already tell, and what do I want with you? Well, I'll leave you guys to figure that one out yourselves_."

Natemare. Of course, he was another ego.

"Reveal yourself to us you douche bag!" Jack boomed.

"Yeah! Wait no- why would you want to confront him?" Nate shrieked.

"I-I have to agree with Nate, " Matpat commented.

Both Mark and Jack glanced at each other. Perhaps they were becoming too overconfident in themselves thinking that they stand a chance against the people that kidnapped them. Hell, they didn't even know if they were human though it seemed highly unlikely. Mark still remembered what happened that day. He still remembers how cold the darkness was.

" _Aww~ come on, don't chicken out on me now!_ " Mare whined.

"Who said we were?" Jack jeered.

" _That's the spirit! Now, how about we have some fun..._ " Mare chuckled darkly. The ego than began to softly hum in a low, soothing voice. He sounded beautiful, almost just like Nate when he was singing. But there was something more sinister about Mare's croons. It was like he was a siren singing to sailors luring them to their certain deaths.

Suddenly, Jack began to slowly drift away from the group.

"Jack, where are you going?" Mark questioned, slight panic present in his voice.

The Irish man didn't respond. In fact, he didn't react in the slightest way. He didn't stop or slow down or even flinch at the sound of Mark's voice. He just kept walking away from the group like a mindless zombie.

"Matt, wait!" Mark heard Nate shout. He cocked his head to the side and saw Matpat sauntering away from the group as well. Mark snapped his head back to face Jack but-

Jack was gone.

"Jack? Jack!" Mark called out, but no one replied. All Mark could hear was the soft melody of Mare's humming and Nate pleading Matpat to come back. He cursed under his breath. "Jack? Where the hell did you go, man?"

Nate ran over to Matpat and extended his hand out towards the brunette. He was so close until he was shoved onto the floor by a paranormal force. He hit the concrete ground with a soft grunt before rapidly lifting his head up to search for Matpat, but...

He was gone too.

"Matt? Matt, what the fuck!" Nate shouted. He turned around and saw that Jack was missing too. "What the hell... Where is Jack?"

"I-I don't know... I looked away for one second then he just... Disappeared, " Mark explained. "Fuck... What the hell did the son of a bitch do to them!"

"Let's find out for ourselves, " Nate griped. "Hey, motherfucker! What did you do to Matt and Jack!"

When Nate and Mark waited for answers anxiously, they noticed how quiet it was. Mare was no longer humming. Mare was no longer here.

Mark gritted his teeth. Jack and Matpat straight up vanished without any possible explanation. Nate ran over to one of the rooms and slammed open the door. Nothing. Mark decided to do the same as Nate and search around for any signs of Jack and Matpat, and just like Nate, he found nothing. How could have they just disappeared into thin air? It didn't make sense. Something was manipulating the reality around the YouTubers. Something powerful and mean.

Mark looked in the last cell before he kicked the bars in a fit of rage. The angry boiled his blood like water in a kettle. He had just found his friends, now they were separated again. What happened to them? Where did they go? Who took them? Why did they go? Who is responsible for all of this controversy in the first place? Who caused all of the meaningless entropy? There were so many questions that swirled around in Mark's mind yet he got zero answers. What did the world want from him?

"Woah, calm down a little. I know this is bad, but we'll find them, " Nate assured Mark.

"Will we really though?" Mark hissed. "We just gathered everyone here together, and now we are back down to two again."

"I know it's frustrating, but we will preserve. We will find Jack and we will find Matpat, but we won't even have a chance at finding them if we sit here and sulk."

Mark nodded. "You're right. Come on!" Mark ran towards the direction Matt drifted astray from the group and vanished. He gripped Nate's wrist and began tugging him down the dirty hallway.

"What are you doing?" Nate inquired.

"What does it look like?" Mark exclaimed. Nate raised an eyebrow. Just a few seconds ago he was complaining about losing his friends again, but now he was as robust and energetic as ever. The little spark in his soul seemed to flare up and roar, the determination running deep in his veins.

"We're going to find them!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, quite a bit of swearing sorry!!! But well things went down today, and things will only continue to throw down deeper.


	8. Infinite Hallways ≠ Infinite Fun

Nate was running down the hallways as fast as he possibly could. His breathing became uneven as sweat started to trickle down his forehead. His legs were burning in pain but he ignored it. The facility that the YouTubers were caged in felt like a labyrinth that expanded infinitely. It was almost impossible to find Matpat or Jack in this place, but the musician didn't give up. What kind of person would he be if he let his friends down here to die?

He sharply turned for what felt the ten-millionth time and found himself at another doorway. He sighed exasperatedly as he turned the knob and burst through the door. Another hallway. The musician was quickly becoming tired of running through hallway to hallway through door to door. How could this facility be this big? It's impossible, so how does it stretch forever? Was it some kind of illusion or did the whole thing loop? If it was an illusion, who or how is causing it, and if the whole thing loops, how has he not run into Mark, Jack or Matpat yet?

No, something was wrong; terribly wrong. The person or thing that was causing it was the egos, but which one? Could it be Mare? After all, he was the one who started all of this. Then again, it could be Dark or Anti's doing. It was scary not knowing what the egos could do and what they're capable of. He dug his hands into his pocket and pulled out the pocket knife Jack found earlier. He had dropped it when he was drawn away from the group. Mark said that Nate could have it and stated that he didn't need it as he has all the strength he needed, which was a bit cocky for him. He just wanted Nate to be able to defend himself, that's all. He put the knife back into his pocket. This would definitely come in handy.

Nate then stopped. He was getting nowhere and was only tiring himself out. There must be a way to escape the series of neverending hallways. He began to walk back the way he came from. Maybe if he broke the system things would begin to change or that this was some kind of puzzle he had to figure out. He strode through the door he previously came from and saw that the hallway was still exactly the same. He decided to go farther. It was all still the same as before.

The musician dipped his head down in defeat. He'll never find Matpat, Jack or even find his way back to Mark like this. He needed to solve this twisted puzzle or he'll be stuck down here forever. He raised his head and sighed. There was no way he's going to give up just like that. That's what the egos want, and he's not going to give it to them.

He darted his eyes around the room looking for anything that seems out of place. Every hallway contained about twelve cells that have somewhere around twenty iron bars and thirty-six ceiling lights in which about half of them flickered or weren't on at all (that's how long he's been running through these damn hallways for). He walked forward into the next room and saw the exact same thing. He continued farther and farther entering each room with extreme caution. He didn't want to miss even the slightest of things. He marched into the next hallway and as expected everything was the same-

Wait, what's that? Nate stared at one of the cells and saw that it had a different gate to the others. This one was a complete slab of iron while the others were made of many iron bars. He ran over to it a placed a hand on the cold handle. He looked around at the other cell doors to make sure he wasn't going crazy or anything. Yep, they're all the same, except this one. He pulled down the handle and shakily exhaled. He opened the door gingerly and squeezed his eyes shut as he forced his body through the opening.

The first thing Nate noticed straight away was the smell. The scent of sulphur and old laundry detergent somehow became stronger. The air was thick, cold and full of tension. He slowly opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness. What was this room and does it exist? He searched for anything that looked like a light switch or source but found nothing. It was simply too dark.

Nate spun around and moved towards the exit before the iron door magically slammed shut. He jumped back startled and twisted around sharply raising his hands in a defensive position. He shuffled backwards as his eyes nervously scanned the room.

"Who's there!" Nate shouted.

There was a dark chuckle. It sounded just like himself which immensely disturbed the musician. It was Mare, that bastard who took Jack and Matpat. Panic began to bubble up inside of Nate. Had the ego trapped him in here?

"You asshole... Let Jack and Matt go!" Nate exclaimed.

" _You're super demanding, you know that?_ " Mare remarked.

Nate gritted his teeth. He was playing with fire, he knew that, but there was no way to emphasize how badly he wanted to save his two friends. He has to - needs to. There's no way he'll be able to be at peace if he left someone down here to die alone.

"Where are they?" Nate boomed still trying to peer through the darkness.

" _Well, Jack is somewhere far, far away from here,_ " Mare chuckled. " _But..._ " the ego began smirking. " _Matt, on the other hand, he's right here_."

Suddenly, light flooded the room. Nate shielded his eyes from the intense brightness that burned his eyes. He squinted through the light as best as he could and saw two figures. One of the figures was standing up proud and tall while grinning. Nate couldn't believe it. It was Mare! Not to mention the fact he looked just like the musician, only the ego wore completely black and had black, smoky makeup around his eyes and blue tear streaks that ran down his face. Nate recognized the look almost immediately. It was his costume from the music video 'Mangled' that he sang roughly two years ago.

But the other figure; he was sitting down on a wooden. No, he was tied to the chair. He was trembling as he tightly gripped onto the arm, his knuckles a light shade of white. He had brunette hair, hair similar to Matpat's. In fact, it was Matpat! He was blindfolded and gagged with a white cloth. Nate noticed that the grey and white jacket he wore was gone revealing an aegean blue t-shirt.

"Let him go, " Nate growled as he clenched his fists prepared to fight, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

" _Make me,_ " Mare sneered.

Nate lunged at Mare slamming the side of his arm into the egos chest. Mare toppled over and fell to the floor. Nate stood triumphantly over Mare waiting for him to get up. A shrill, cold laughter came erupting from Mare who was still slumped over on the cold, cement ground.

" _Really, is that the best you can do? I'm feeling a bit... Underwhelmed,_ " Mare snickered.

Mare rose from the ground. He didn't seem to phased by being knocked to the ground. He wasn't even scratched.

Nate took a step back. He was afraid - afraid of what Mare was going to do to him and Matpat. The cold air suddenly became colder, the odour of rotten eggs becoming stronger than ever before. At this point, Nate stopped breathing through his nose just to avoid the horrid stench. What was Mare going to do to him? Kill him seemed like the most certain outcome.

Nate tore his eyes off of Mare and gazed at Matpat. The brunette in the chair was sweating and terrified, struggling to escape from the ropes that bind him. His wrists, arms and ankles were all sore, bruising, and slightly bleeding. It looked like he was trying to scream something through the gag but it was muffled. His hoarse shrieks cause Nate to look behind him to see what the problem was. That was his biggest mistake.

As soon as the musician turned around, a large hand wrapped itself around his throat squeezing tight. Mare smirked as he watched Nate struggle in his grasp. He then began to lift him off the ground holding his throat tighter. The YouTuber flailed in the air, kicking his legs and digging his nails into Mare's arms gasping for air. Seeing all of the pain in Nate's eyes only made Mare grin wider.

" _My turn~_ " he cooed before ramming Nate into the wall. " _We're going to have so much fun_."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg a chapter that's over 1000 words itS A MIRACLE!!!


	9. Pentagrams, Mannequins, Spiders And Scorpions... Fun!

If there was one thing horror games and movies taught Mark it was to never split up, and he and Nate did exactly that. Now, he was walking through an infinite amount of hallways, and each time he stepped foot into a new chamber, it was almost exactly the same than before. Almost. You see, with every new hallway comes a more demonified setting. Something new and gross would always be added to the absolute nightmare that these hallways were. First, it was the rooms becoming more and more old, decayed and run down. Then, there was a maggot infestation. Not before long there were blood-drawn pentagrams all over the walls. Someone really took this years Halloween decoration contest too far.

Mark dashed down the hallway as fast as he could. There was no way that he was prowling searching for clues this time because not only were there mannequins here, they moved their heads and stared at the half Korean as he walked. That room was a biggest ‘bag of nope’ that he has even seen, smelt, touched, heard and tasted. Someone here was messing with him, and if he ever found that person he was sure he would pound them into a bloody pulp with his bare hands. If it was an ego, he wasn’t scared anymore. He was going to take them head on.

Mark opened another door for the one-millionth time and sauntered cautiously into the next room. It seemed normal enough for an underground facility. The walls were all concrete like usual, the iron bars that lined across the cells were all the same and the lights flickered from time to time. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet. He tiptoed along the hall scanning the suspicious chamber with qualm in his eyes. Something wasn’t right, he was sure of it.

Suddenly, darkness slowly began to run down the cement walls. Mark jumped back in shock and horror. He squinted at the shadows that were creeping down the walls and noticed long hairy legs. It then came to him. This wasn’t darkness, they were spiders! Millions and millions of huge, ugly spiders came crawling towards Mark. He scrambled away from the insects and almost tripped over his own feet as he ran as fast as he could. He was sure he ran faster than Usain Bolt.

Mark ripped the door open and slammed it shut behind him as he entered the next hallway. He fell against the door panting hard and internally screamed. He then realised that the spiders could fit their bodies through the bottom of the door and jerked away from it. First, it was demonic rituals, next it was mannequins and now it was spiders. He had been running like a madman and his legs trembled and burned in pain. He was exhausted and just wanted to go home and see his dog and Amy again, but he was trapped here by what he thought were just fictional characters.

He sighed as he gazed forward, only to become frozen in fear as he saw a huge hole in the ground that contained something that would make any sane person turn around and say nope. It was a pit of large, deadly scorpions. He could have fainted right there, but he had to keep moving forward. He looked across from the hole of death and saw another door. The pit was too long to try and jump across, he would surely fall dead centre in the scorpions.

Mark looked back. No, he can't go back now. He felt like he was getting closer and closer to Jack or Matpat. Well, that and the last room was surely taken over by spiders. He gazed forward towards the scorpions crawling around in the pit making Mark shiver. There was no way he could continue further than this, there has to be something else. He's passed through hundreds of these chambers by now, this place can't be that big, right? The answer was simple. No, It can't. There was something going on here and he has to find out what it was.

Mark breathed in and pondered. He noticed that every time he walked into a new hallway everything is slightly different. Even something as insignificant as the space between the iron bars of the cells was different, except for one thing. The door. The half Korean thought and thought until finally, he came up with an idea. All this time, he had been going forward, too scared to go backwards. What if he were to turn around and go the other way. Would it mess with the system? He didn't know. All he wanted to do was find Jack and Matpat and avoid a pit of scorpions.

Mark twisted around and faced the door. There are hundreds of spiders behind that door, going back in there is insane. Then again, trying to jump across an enormous hole full of evil bugs wasn't the sanest thing to do either. He reached out his hand and grasped the knob. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest. Every little movement seemed to create so much anxiety down here in this God-forsaken place.

He turned the handle slowly and pulled the door back. He stood as far away from the doorway as possible expecting a wave of spiders to rush in. There wasn't. It was just another hallway. This time, it was normal. Well, as normal as it gets in this cursed facility. It was just a lot of cells lined up along the walls with flickering lights. There was no sign of spiders or any sort of bug life. That was a huge relief. But that did leave Mark wondering about one question; what the hell just happened?

Mark cautiously made his way down the hallway, scanning the room for any sign of danger. It seemed safe enough, but he knew that he couldn't trust anything, not even a small room filled with nothing. He reached the end of the chamber and gingerly clasped the doors handle. If this wasn't the door Jack or Matpat was behind then he was going to set this place on fire before he does the same to himself. He has had enough. The only thing he wants at this point in time is for all of this to be over.

Mark closed his eyes and burst through the door, bracing himself for the worst. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked and relieved at what he saw. It was Jack! The Irish man was tied down to a chair with leather straps and was unconscious but he was alive and that was all that mattered.

Mark scrambled over the Jack and dropped to his knees. He pulled at the straps that were binding Jack to the metal chair but it would give. The leather had locks which presumably had a key for them, but where were they? He then shook Jack in an attempt to wake him up.

"Jack, Jack!" Mark yelled while shaking the other Youtuber's shoulders. "Come on... Wake up, man!"

Abruptly, Jack snapped his eyes wide open.

"Where... Where the hell am I?" his voice quavered. "M-Mark? What happened?"

"Calm down, " Mark whispered gently. "What do you remember?"

Jack swallowed a huge gulp of air. "I... The last thing I remember is hearing someone singing. After that, everything went blank."

"Alright, do you know where the keys are for these locks?" Mark continued to question him.

Jack peered down and tugged his wrists against the restraints. "No..."

Mark sighed. He wanted so badly for this to end, but it wasn't over, not that easy. He looked around to see he could find anything that could be used to open the locks but there was nothing. As Mark was searching, he noticed wires that ran up Jack's arms and under his shirt and sleeves. He lifted the Youtuber's sleeve and examined the wires. He saw that electrodes were stuck to his skin.

"What are you looking at?" Jack asked Mark timidly.

"There's... Something stuck onto your skin." Mark replied. "Can you feel it?"

"Y-yeah, " Jack answered.

"Alright, I'm gonna peel them off. This might hurt a little."

Mark reached out and grasped the electrode that was stuck to Jack's skin. He was about to rip it off before he heard someone yell at him from behind.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you, " the voice boomed. He sounded calm and at ease, like nothing in the world bothered him. But Mark could hear how unstable he was, he knew he was insane. And just like always, the voice sounded familiar.

"Let me guess, you're the alter ego of Matpat?" Mark inquired with sarcasm.

"Why yes, I'm glad that I don't have to waste my time explaining that part, " he stated. "I'm most commonly known as MadPat by the fanbase but please, just call me Mad."

"What the hell is all this?" Mark shouted pointing to Jack who was uncomfortable and terrified in his seat.

"What is this?" Mad remarked. "This is just a little experiment-"

Mad then suddenly appears in front of Mark and Jack with his hands in his pockets. He wore a lab coat over a blue shirt that was drenched in sweat. He reeked of smoke and ash, his brunette hair messy and sticking up at odd ends. He also wore navy blue pants and black leather boots matched with black rubber gloves. But the thing that stood out the most was his scars. Enormous, ugly burn scars stretched along the left side of his face and neck. For someone who had a somewhat feeble figure, he sure did look intimidating.

Mad pulls out a small device from his lab coats pocket a moves his thumb over the switch. He then begins to grins like a maniac.

"-And you two are my test subjects."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I didn't mean for this chapter to be this long guys but hey I guess that's better then it being between 900-999 words long ha ha ha... Ha...


	10. You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me

Struggle, that's all Nate could do. He scratched and dug his nails deep into Mares skin causing him to bleed slightly. This didn't affect him though. In fact, he seemed to find it entertaining, his mischievous smirk widening. The Ego's grip around the YouTuber's neck tightened as excitement and delirium spread through his body like a wildfire. He was enjoying this, it was written all over his face

" _You know, this all could have been avoided, Nate..._ " Mare began. " _You could have just stayed locked up in your cell like a good little boy, but you just had to break free; to join your friends_."

His eyes and grin darkened. If he didn't look evil before, he definitely did now.

" _Now you and your other friend here is going to pay for what you did_."

Nate wanted to cry out for help, to scream for someone to save him, but he knew it would be no use. Matpat is tied to a chair, Mark is most likely on the side of the facility by now and he was running out short of air in the first place. He could barely whisper, let alone yell.

The YouTuber panicked as he began to feel lightheaded. His throat was sore and his chest burned. He was going to die, Nate was sure of it. He's going to die right in front of Matpat, his friend, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to fail him. He was going to fail everyone.

No, he couldn't. Mark, Jack, Matpat... They were all counting on him - counting on him to stay alive and rescue his captured friend. Suddenly, he felt something poke him, something that was in his pocket. That's when he remembered.

The pocket knife! How could he forget?

In one swift movement, Nate reached down and grasped the handle of the knife with his right hand and raised it in front of him. Before Mare had any time to react the musician swung down and stabbed his attacker in the arm.

Mare grunted and stumbled back as he clutched his bleeding right arm. He let out a sharp cry of pain before turning his attention to Nate who was frozen in shock. The Ego glared at him dangerously, like he was ready to tear his head off at any given moment.

" _You son of a bitch..._ " Mare growled. " _Don't you mess with me!_ "

Abruptly, Mare lunged at Nate punching him right in the nose causing it to bleed. Nate screamed and staggered backwards as he cupped his bloody nose. Mare couldn't help but smile knowing that he probably broke the musician's nose. Nate wiped some of the blood away with his sleeve, not like that helped though. He readjusted his grip on the pocket knife and braced himself for Mare's next attack.

Mare charged at Nate again and raised his fists. This time, Nate was able to dodge the attack and pushed Mare forward causing him to fall on his arms. Mare swiftly hopped up off the floor and elbowed Nate in the stomach earning a loud hiss of pain from the YouTuber. Nate corrected his balance and wrapped his arm around Mare's throat holding him in a chokehold. The Ego struggled against Nate and threw himself backwards ramming Nate into the cement wall behind them. The blunt force caused him to lose his hold on his opponent, Mare falling down to the ground once more.

" _You think you're so tough, don't you?_ " Mare snarled while raising himself to his feet. " _Well guess what?_ " Mare brushed off the dust on his pants. " _I'm about to prove to you just how wrong you are_."

Mare ran at Nate with great speed and kicked him directly in the abdomen. Nate yelped in pain but refused to back down. He gripped his weapon tightly and swung at Mare. The musician managed to slash the Ego right along his chest. That did not make him very happy.

Meanwhile, Matpat was frantically pulling against his restraints desperately trying to break free. He couldn't see anything that was happening, but he could hear the two men throwing punches and the sound of someone rapidly breathing, though he couldn't tell who was winning. He wanted to say something, scream something even, but all that came out were pathetic muffled cries. He could only hope that Nate would be able to come out victorious.

"Matt, " Nate said, his voice raspy and raw. "You good?"

Matpat nodded his head trying to say something through the gag. As expected, his message was smothered and Nate couldn't understand a thing.

Nate whipped his head around to face Mare who was cracking his knuckles. The Ego then leapt forward and lifted his clenched hand for one final punch. Nate took a step back in fear. Everything seemed to move in slow motion just like in movies. Mare made his way closer and closer to the musician, his fist raised and ready to strike. Mare drew closer, far too close for comfort. Spontaneously, Nate drew back his right hand - the hand with the knife and stabbed forward.

Nate screwed his eyes shut, expecting to be punched in the face once more. Suddenly, he felt something fall on top of him. It was heavy, limp and felt like a body. Nate slowly reopened his eyes and almost screamed in horror at the sight.

A knife, the knife that he was holding, was lodged into Mare's stomach. Blood was everywhere. It was all over the floor and soaked the Ego's black shirt. Nate pulled back with the weapon still in hand and let Mare drop to the floor. Nate gazed down at his trembling hands and saw that they were drenched in crimson. The YouTuber then heard slight laughter from a defeated Mare.

" _This isn't over yet..._ " Mare threatened. " _I can't die, none of us can... You'll lose eventually... Oh, how I'll savour that moment - the moment when I'll crush you like a tin can. The end is inevitable, Nate... We will gain control!_ "

Just like that, Mare vanished into thin air, leaving Nate confused and terrified. What are their plans? They can't die, how? What did he mean by 'We will gain control'? Millions of questions that flooded Nates head quickly disappeared when he heard a muffled cry of help. Matpat, he was still tied up!

Nate scurried over to where the theorist was sitting. He removed the gag and piece of cloth that covered the brunette's eyes. As his vision was no longer obscured, a wave of relief came over him when the first thing he saw was Nate. He was battered, sure, but he was alive. Nate got his knife in hand and observed the blade. It was completely covered in red. The musician wiped the blood on his already bloody sleeve and began to carefully cut the ropes that bound Matpat to the wooden chair. As soon as the ropes fell loosely to the ground, the theorist rubbed his wrists before engulfing Nate in a hug.

"Thank you so much!..." Matpat exclaimed on the verge of crying.

"Hey, I didn't get beat up for nothing, " Nate remarked with a sheepish grin.

Matpat then swiftly pulled away. "How hurt are you? We can rest here if you want."

Nate stared down at the floor and smiled timidly. "We can't... We've got a long journey ahead of us. We can't wait around for them to find us again."

Matpat bit his lower lip. "Well, what do we do now?"

"We find Mark and Jack then get the hell out of here."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHH IM SO SORRY I MEANT TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT FOUR-FIVE DAYS AGO BUT THEN I GOT SICK AND THEN THERE WAS A BDAY I HAD TO ATTEND SO IM SORRY THAT MY LITTLE BREAK FROM WAS LONGER THEN I INTENDED!!!
> 
> But I hope you enjoy this chapter! My writing gears may not be in maximum drive but I tried!!


	11. The Experiment

Did Mad just call them his test subjects? That doesn't sound good...

Mark stood in the dark room as he felt his whole body tense at the sight of the ego. Right up until now, he had only heard them. Now, one of them had just straight up confronted him with little warning whatsoever. It was extremely nerve-racking.

"What the hell are you going to do to us?" Jack shouted as he tugged on his leather restraints.

"I'm just going to conduct a simple experiment, " Mad replied smirking slyly.

"Experiment?" Mark exclaimed.

"Ah, as you can see, Jack here is tied to a chair. Mark, it's your job to search for a key and free Jack. The key is hidden among ninety-nine other keys. Now, here's the catch - Jack is hooked up to a device that will electrocute him. If you pick the wrong key I will push this button that will give Jack quite a shock. You only have one minute and thirty seconds to try and find the right key before I kill him. You got all that?" Mad explained.

"Oh, and one last thing!" Mad reaches into his other pocket and pulls out a loaded gun. "Do something stupid -" he cocks the gun, "\- and I'll shoot you. Got it?"

Mark and Jack nod rapidly as they both fear for their lives. The Koreans heart pounds in his chest. How could he possibly find the right key in one and a half minutes? It seemed impossible unless he got extremely lucky which seemed highly unlikely. None the less, he had to do this. He had to save Jack, even if is means electrocuting him. It's better than him being dead.

Mad smirks as he walks over to the wall on his right and flicks a switch. Immediately, a row of lights flickers on revealing a steel rod that extends all the way across the room. What hangs below from the metal bar are tones and tones of keys that are all labelled a number from one to one hundred. Beside from the number tags, all of them looked exactly the same. How the hell was he supposed to keep track of all those keys?

"Are you ready?" Mad cheered.

Mark could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. One second he's chilling on a lounge with other YouTubers and now he's trying to save a guy from being scrambled like eggs. He swears he will never collab with any other YouTuber ever again if he's going to be kidnapped every time he did it.

"Set..."

Jack felt like his heart was going to explode right out of his chest. His intestines twisted and turned in anxiety. By now, he was sitting in a puddle of his own sweat. He tried to take back control of his own rigid breathing but failed. The situation he was in was too much for him to hand. It overwhelmed him like a huge tidal wave is crashing down over his head. Will he be able to make it out of here alive?

"Go!"

As soon as Mad shot his pistol into the air Mark ran like there was no tomorrow. After all, if he didn't, there would be no tomorrow - not for Jack at least. Still, in this situation, he cared about the Irish man more than himself. He was all that mattered at this moment. Jack. You have to save Jack.

Mark leap towards one of the keys that were labelled '23' on the railing. He swiftly unhooked it and ran over to Jack. He tried to unlock the locks using the key. It didn't fit. Jack let out a sharp hiss of pain as he felt electric shocks flow through his body. It stung and burned him, further increasing the acceleration of his heartbeat.

Mark cursed under his breath and threw the useless key onto the ground. He ran back to the rod at unhooked another key. He tried it and once again, it was the wrong one. Jack swore as he was shocked again. This one hurt more than the first. Mark tried another key, and another key, and another key. All of which were useless.

"Thirty seconds left!" Mad snickered.

_Shit_. There was under half a minute left and Mark had barely gotten through any of them. Panic began to bubble up in his chest. Jack was thirty seconds close to dying. He tried yet another key, one that was labelled '56'. As expected, it wasn't the correct one. He unhooked a key that was labelled '78'. Same result as last time.

"Twenty seconds."

_Fuck_. _Fuckity fuck, fuck_. Time was only decreasing as well as Mark and Jacks hope. It would be a miracle if Jack survived this. The Irish man was on the verge of screaming until his lungs gave out. He didn't want to die. No, he wanted to live. He wanted to see his girlfriend, Signe, again. He wanted to see Robin again. He wanted to see his friends again. He wanted to see his parents again. He couldn't die here. Not like this.

"Ten seconds."

The two Youtubers desperately wished that this was all just some horrible nightmare and that they would wake up any moment now. They wished that now more than ever before. They hoped that they would open their eyes only to wake up in bed and found out that they overslept, so now they have to skip breakfast and scold their friends for not waking them up on time to make a new video. But unfortunately, that was just a silly fantasy. A lie. This was real.

"Five."

Mark scrambles over to the metal rail one last time and rips a key off. He doesn't even bother to read the number. It wasn't important.

"Four."

He runs back over to Jack almost tripping over his own feet.

"Three."

The Korean falls to his knees as he desperately tries to free his friend.

"Two."

As Mark attempts to shove the key into the keyhole that binds Jack to the chair, it sends another painful electric shock up the Irish man's spine. It didn't work.

"One."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, it's literally 4 am in the morning rn what am I doing with my life?


	12. The Test Subjects

Jack screwed his eyes shut waiting for the searing hot pain to char his body into chunks of coal. He dug his fingernails into the armrests of the wooden chair he was strapped to and gritted his teeth. Death. That's all he could imagine. There was no way to survive - Mark has failed him. If he tried to do anything against Mad's liking then he will surely be killed too. The Irish man supposed him dying here would be better than both of them. Even though, it hurt. He was scared, _terrified_. He didn't want to die. Not yet, not like this.

Just as Jack had made his final prayers, he suddenly heard Mad laughing. He forced his eyes open and peered over to where the Ego was standing. He was bent over backwards laughing like a maniac, a huge demented smile plastered onto his face. His toothy grin was already disgusting enough, but the horrible burn scars made it so much worse. As he finally began to calm down, he ran a hand through his brunette hair and sighed in euphoria.

"You should have seen your faces!" Mad remarked. "They were priceless! I wish I had a camera with me, I would have taken a picture!"

Mad erupted into deranged laugher once more, leaving the two YouTubers speechless. This was all just a joke to him. A harmless prank. He found enjoyment in Mark's anxiety and in Jack's terror. He was downright insane. A sick sociopath that got off on another's pain, and they had been completely fooled by him. It was almost embarrassing but mostly petrifying. He needed to be stopped.

"So, I had no chance, huh?" Mark inquired sounding defeated.

"Yep."

Mark's head dropped. He felt utterly hopeless. How could he manage to help all of his friends when he can't even save one man?

"What... What about the key to this?-" he tugs at his restraints, "-Do you have it?" Jack stammered then bit his lower lip.

Mad smirked. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, then what was the point of all this?" Mark yelled. "To have fun?"

"As I said earlier Mark, it's an experiment, " the Ego replied.

Mark clenched his fists tight. "Is that what we are to you guys; a fucking test subject? Just some worthless sacks of meat to be toyed with? I've had enough of you guys bullshit! I swear to God I'll drag all four of you look-a-like bastards to hell with my bare hands! You've fucked with us for long enough! I've had it!"

"Big words coming from a small man like you, " Mad sneered.

But before Mad could say any more, he was punched square in the jaw by the YouTuber. He stumbled back and reaffirmed his grip on his handgun and aimed it at Mark. They both burned holes through each other's head. No more playing games now, this just got a whole lot more serious.

"You don't stand a chance, Mark..." Mad growled.

"You know, fuck you and that gun, " Mark spat in spite. "I'm not afraid to take you on. I know you won't kill me or Jack."

"True, I won't kill you. But nobody said I couldn't hurt you."

Meanwhile, Jack sat in the wooden chair staring hopelessly at the two men. Do you know how frustrating it is to see one of your good friends dealing with psychopaths like the one before him and be utterly useless in that situation? It drove him insane. There Mark was, standing alone facing a hysterical man who has a gun trained on him? It was the most infuriating thing that has ever occurred to him ever in the entire span of his life yet.

"Mark, I know you're an idiot but this is a whole new level of stupid, even for you! This is suicide!" Jack shouted.

Mark chewed on the inside of his check. He knew what Jack was saying was true, but he refused to go down, not without a fight.

"Come on Mark... You don't have the guts to take me on!" Mad chuckled. "After all, I still am your friend, even if it is just a small fraction of him, I'm still him."

"I have no problem with punching someone in the face who looks exactly like that pretentious prick. Actually, I think it's better this way."

Abruptly, Mark lunged at the Ego. Mad pulled the trigger of his gun but missed him only by an inch. Mark flinched at the loud sound the firearm emitted but kept marching on, even if he was more terrified then ever. He's going up against someone with a real gun, and what does he have? His wits? His good looks? Things were not looking good for the YouTuber.

Mark clasped Mad's lab coat and jerked him to the side, causing him to fall down. The brunette gripped Mark's left arm and roughly tugged him down with him. Next, he slammed the butt of the gun against Mark's cheek causing him to bleed. A single drop of blood trailed down the half Korean's face as he struggled against the other man. He hopped to his feet, grabbed the collar of Mad's lab coat once more, forced him up, only to punch him directly in the stomach.

Jack was muttering silent prayers, praying that Mark somehow manages not to die, and didn't even believe in a God. But just as Jack was cheering his friend on, his blue eyes widened in fear. Words were caught in his throat as he struggled to put words together to form a sentence. It was too much. No, he couldn't watch. He watched in horror as he witnessed Mad raising his gun, pressing the barrel right up against Mark's shoulder. He watched in horror as he saw the sadistic grin spread across the Ego's face.

"Mark, look out for the gun!" the Irish man screeched, but it was all too late.

BANG!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH IM TRYING OKAY TO POST MORE OKAY??? :((( 
> 
>  
> 
> I'm sorry ;-;


	13. He's A Man Of Ice And Stone

Everything seemed to go deathly silent. All Jack could hear was a loud and irritating ringing in his ears. He watched in horror as he saw the bullet rip through Mark's shoulder, his blood spraying everywhere. He sprang forward in his chair forgetting that he was tied down to it, receiving a grim reminder that he was utterly useless.

Mark's limp body fell on the floor with his blood pooling around the floor. There was so much blood. Too much blood. Oh God, was he even breathing? Is he alive? He was just so still. From where Jack sat he couldn't see well. The only thing he could see was the half Korean's inert form. His almost lifeless form.

Mad huffed out a sigh. "I didn't kill him, did I? Crap, Dark's gonna skin me alive for this one..."

A wave of panic rushed through Jack as Mad shifted his gaze towards him. "Well, at least we still have three left. It's a real shame he had to die though, I liked Mark, " the Ego smirked.

"Go fuck yourself, " Jack spat, his hands clenching into balls. He bared his teeth, despite the tears pricking in his eyes. He had to be strong, no matter what. Showing any signs of weakness definitely wouldn't help his case.

"That's all you have to say? Huh, I expected more, " Mad shrugged. "That's what I get for expecting an Irish potato to actually have any brains or intelligence."

Jack shifted in his seat. "You can insult me all you want, but shooting Mark -" his voice quavers, "- that's too far; All of this is too far! What the hell did we do to you guys, huh?" Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "What the fuck have we done to deserve all of this bullshit? I know I'm not perfect and I know Mark's not perfect too, but all of this nonsense? No one deserves it, so why?"

Mad raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "We've already told you this. We need you to do something; something important."

"That answer isn't good enough!"

"Man, you humans are so demanding!" Mad scratches the back of his head. "I would tell you, but I don't want to spoil the surprise!"

Jack opened his mouth to say more, but before he could, a large shadow washed over the room. The Irish man was engulfed in thick, cold darkness like it wasn't already freezing. The smell of gasoline wafted from all around him. What in the world was going on? Oh God, he hoped that there wasn't any gasoline down here. What if Mad had decided to burn him alive? He shuddered at the thought. No, he was being irrational. The Ego's clearly stated that they wanted him alive. Then again, he did shoot Mark. Were they really telling the truth? He squeezed his eyes shut. He just wanted everything to be over.

Suddenly, the shadow began to fade away. The scent of gasoline was still present in the air, but now instead of smelling it all around him, it radiated from one spot; in front of him. Jack reopened his eyes only to be greeted by a familiar yet unfamiliar figure standing in front of him. He wore a ridiculous amount of eyeliner, which made him less intimidating, sure, but the dark atmosphere that lingered around him made up for that. The figure was a man dressed in a pristine and tidy suit. His hair was black and fell over one of his eyes. When Jack took a good look at his black and white monochromatic face, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he realised who it was.

It was Mark! No, wait. Mark's still bleeding out on the ground, that can't be him. Then that means...

It's Dark. Of course, it's Dark.

"H-Hey, Dark..." Mad stuttered with poorly disguised panic on his face. "Didn't expect you to drop by so suddenly."

" **Mad** , " Dark uttered with the warmth of liquid nitrogen. His voice echoed throughout the room, making his deep voice and stone-cold glare more intense. His gaze shifted to Mark. " **What did you do**."

"Well... I'm going to be completely honest with you; I shot him in the shoulder." Mad timidly shoved his hands in his pockets as he confessed. He was nervous. Scared, even. This complete manic was scared of a man who looked like he's still going through his emo phase, says 'It's not a phase mum, it's who I am!' and wears way too much eyeliner. That signalled major red flags in Jack's mind.

Dark scowled at him. " **You did _what_?** "

"Look, " Mad raised his hands in defence. "He lunged at me and I didn't want him to neutralize my physical form. You know how painful it is to go through reincarnation, right?"

" **That doesn't matter, you idiot** , " Dark snarled. " **We need them alive!** "

"That's why I shot him in the shoulder!"

In the middle of their heated argument, a groaned sounded from the floor below them. It was Mark! Thank the heavens he's alive. Jack relaxed a bit. Mark was alive and that was the only this that was important at the moment. He'd survived, just like the Irish man had hoped he would. But then Mark rolled over and he saw it. He was his wound and all of the blood that continued to spill. There was so much of it. There was no way he was going to make it if he doesn't get any sort of medical attention soon. Things only seemed to become worse when Dark made his way over to the half Korean.

"Hey, you stay the hell away from him!" Jack shouted. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt Mark anymore, he'd done enough for him.

Dark rolled his eyes. " **I'm not going to hurt him. That would be foolish of me. No, I'm going to help him, so stay out of this, Sean**."

Dark bent down on his knee next to Mark. He placed his hand on the man's shoulder to examine the damage that had been done. Death was certain if someone didn't do something fast. The Ego sighed. Keeping humans alive was such a difficult task. They always got sick or injured. In fact, they even hurt and murder each other out of cold blood. And the YouTubers think the Ego's are bad. Humanity is just as filthy and disgusting, maybe even more so.

Dark lifted Mark over his shoulder causing the half Korean to wince in pain. The Ego tsk-ed. Humans are so fragile and weak. They can barely take care of themselves. He turned around to face Mad and made a face that read 'I'm going to rip out your entrails when we're done dealing with this'. Mad gave Dark a nervous smile in response. It only made him sourer.

" **Don't shoot another one, got it?** "

Mad nodded hastily.

" **Good. now if you'll excuse me, I've got to make sure Mark doesn't die because someone doesn't have any foresight**." Dark whipped around then was quickly swallowed by shadows, disappearing into the darkness.

"Well, that went well, " Mad sighed as he ran a hand through his messy hair. He cocked his head to the side to face Jack. "Just pretend that didn't happen, okay?"

The Ego breathed in and out, trying to keep his composure. "Hmm, how about we have some fun?" Mad began to smirk as he grasped the same mechanism he used to shock Jack before. "And when I mean 'we', I really just mean me." Mad's thumb slid over the switch giggling. Jack leaned back as far as possible with wide eyes like that would somehow help. Not again. Please, anything but that-

"TAKE THIS YOU EVIL BASTARD!"

Mad spun around so fast even light was jealous at his speed. Not that he was quick enough though. He felt something sharp dig deep into his chest burying itself there. A knife. He was stabbed. Blistering hot pain blossomed across his chest and spread to the rest of his body like wildfire. He collapsed and dropped to his knees. He gazed up with pain filled eyes and saw his attacker. Of course, it was him. Oh, how it was somewhat ironic in a way.

Mad scoffed and smiled lightly. "We don't die..." he whispered right before he gave in and fell limp on the floor, turning into a big puff of smoke as he collided with the ground.

Jack store at the sight with gaping eyes. He almost leapt straight of his seat. In fact, he would of, if he wasn't strapped down to it.

"Jack?"

"Matt! Nate! Thank God you're here!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... Am... ALIVE


	14. Please, Don't Hide Things From Me

Matpat and Nate scrambled over to where Jack was sitting and began fumbling with the leather restraints that held the Irishman down.

"What the hell happened?" Nate was quick to ask while pulling on the straps.

Jack took a deep breath. "I was kidnapped and tied down to this chair I think...?"

Matpat scoffed at the familiar sounding story.

Jack continued. "Then Mark came and tried to save me."

Nate blinked. "Where's Mark now?"

Now that he mentioned it, Mark wasn't here. Matpat and Nate both scanned the room searching for the half-Korean, but he was nowhere to be seen. If he was here then where did he run off to?

"Well..." Jack closed his eyes and gulped. "He was shot."

The two Youtubers eyes shot up to Jack in disbelief.

"He was _what_?"

Jack nodded his head, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes. "It's true. He was then taken away by Dark."

Mark was not only shot but is also being held captive by an evil shadow? How did things continue to worsen to the point of this? His friend was dying somewhere, probably being tormented by his alter ego and oh boy, did it anger them. Matpat gritted his teeth while Nate felt like punching something.

"Wait, who shot Mark?" Matpat inquired. "Was it Dark?"

Jack shook his head. "No, it was your alter ego, Madpat... or something like that."

Matpat froze. Mark had he alter ego Darkiplier, Jack had his alter ego Antisepticeye, Nate had his alter ego Natemare... Of course he one himself! Still, it shocked and frustrated him. Four. That's how many egos they were dealing with. _Four_. Well, there was four Youtubers, but what could they do? They only had a pocket knife and nothing more. The egos, on the other hand, had strange powers. How were they suppose to beat that? Not to mention that one phrase that lingered in the Theorist's head bothered him. 'We don't die'... Uh, _what_? Everything dies. Immortality is impossible. Then again, they weren't even human, which only led to another question.

What even are they?

Matpat's eyes flickered with intelligence as he chewed on his fingernails searching for answers. Well, from what he knew they looked like himself and his friends; they had supernatural abilities; they turned into smoke when they're 'killed' and they all are ideas that became widely embraced and accepted by each of their fandoms, but what does that all mean? And on top of that, what is their end goal? What are they trying to achieve? It seems like a lot of trouble trying to keep them alive, so why bother?

He ran his hand through his hair. Why, why, why, why, _why_? There were far too many why's than he was comfortable with. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he couldn't even hear Jack called out to him until the Irishman lightly kicked him with his foot.

"H-Hey! What was that for?" Matpat huffed.

"You weren't responding to me! I thought one of the egos did something to ya'!"

Matpat sighed. He was never going to find answers if they just kept on getting captured like this.

"By the way..." Jack began. "... You mind explaining to me why Nate's covered in blood?"

Matpat bit his lower lip. "He got into a fight with his alter ego. It was not pretty."

"Ah, the pocket knife, right?"

The brunette nodded.

Suddenly, Nate called out to them.

Hey, guys!" he yelled. "I think I found something!"

Matpat didn't even notice Nate leaving his side. He should really try to pay attention more often.

"Yeah, what is it?" the brunette replied, turning toward the raven-haired man.

Nate stood up from where he was crouching down from and ran over with two objects in his hand.

"I found a key!" He shouted as he waved the golden item in the air. He knelt beside Jack and quickly began unlocking the locks, untying the Irishman.

"Where'd you even get that?" Inquired Matpat.

Nate shrugged his shoulders. "I think the guy you stabbed dropped it."

Matpat mouthed an 'oh' and went back to undoing Jack's binds. After the final leather strap was removed the Irishman shot up out of the chair, startling both Nate and Matpat. He stretched his arms, legs and back while sighing. It felt good to be out of the chair. He rubbed his wrists and scanned them for any injuries. He was pretty sure he was going to get some light bruising there but other than that, he was fine.

"Good Lord, it feels good to be outta that damned chair, " Jack remarked. He turned towards his two fellow YouTubers and smirked. "Now are we gonna go save Mark's ass or what?"

As Nate and Matpat both stood, a spark of fury and determination danced in their eyes. "Hell yeah!" They both cheered at the same time.

They all made their way towards the lone door at the front of the room. Matpat took a deep breathe as he reached out his hand towards the iron door handle. As he did so, the sleeve of his jacket pulled back, revealing his injured wrists. He tugged his jacket sleeve over his hand swiftly, hoping that no one saw.

But Jack did.

"Woah, " he gasped. "What the hell happened to you, Matt?"

Nate stopped in his tracks and stared at his two friends. What the hell is going on now?

Matpat blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, don't play dumb with me, " Jack scolded. "I saw that."

The Theorist gulped and shifted his gaze to the ground, wanting to look at anything other than Jack. He shoved his left hand up his right sleeve and began to gently trace his cuts and bruises.

"I was in the same situation you were in, okay?" Matpat explained. "Things just... Got out of hand."

A heavy, awkward silence fell upon the three YouTubers. Jack felt guilty, pressuring his friend like that, but he was just so furious! Whoever hurt Matpat... Whoever hurt Nate... Man are they asking for a beating from Jack. He may be the shortest out of everyone, but God dammit it does not mean that he can't throw a good punch.

Finally, someone spoke. It was Nate. "Let's just find Mark and get out of here okay? Once we're out, we can deal with emotions and shit, but right now we gotta focus on the task at hand."

Matpat and Jack both turned to Nate and nodded. He was right. Surviving first, feelings later, not that they were going to avoid this. Oh no, they were all going to have a very long talk after escaping this hell hole.

Matpat pushed open the door and slide out of the room that reeked of burnt toast. As soon as he began to examine the hallway he froze. Nate followed after him, also freezing in shock. Shortly after, Jack did the exact same thing. He saw, then he froze. This... Okay, now this was a bit of a stretch.

"What the absolute _fuck_ am I looking at right now?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, bet you thought you've seen the last of me, bitch. 
> 
> No, but really I finally posted is this a miracle or a curse (hint: its a curse - my writing sucks)???


	15. Dark Magic And Morbid Secrets

He misses his girlfriend.

He misses his mum.

He misses his brother.

He misses his friends.

He misses his dogs.

How he got here, he doesn't know. Why he's here? That's still a mystery. He just wants to go home, back to his friends. He wants to sit in front of a monitor and play games while yelling at a computer screen. He wants to play with his dog and laugh with his friends. He wants... H e w a n t s . . .

" **Wake up, Mark**."

The commanding, echoing voice... He's heard it before. It belonged to a man who was like him, but also very unlike him. He hated him - and hated how similar they are becoming as the hours go by.

" **I said wake up**."

Now the man seemed angry with him. He doesn't want to wake up though. He feels so numb it's comforting and disturbing at the same time. He contemplates his choices. Return to the nightmare that was reality or stay within incognizant slumber, deliberately avoiding the truth?

Mark opened his eyes.

There were bright lights everywhere, making him wince and shut his eyes again. What the?... Where was he? His shoulder was completely numb while his head throbbed in pain. It was hot and humid in the room, making Mark uncomfortable and sweaty. He cringed at the smell of gasoline and sulphur that lingered in the air. He moved his hands and soon realised that he was lying down on a bed. It wasn't the comfiest bed but he wasn't complaining.

He reopened his eyes only to choke on his spit as he saw what loomed over him. Well, it wasn't really a 'what', it was more of a 'who', and that who was Dark.

"What... What the hell..." Mark slurred his words. He was so exhausted he wasn't even sure if his words were coming out in the correct order - not that he cared.

Dark stood tall and placed his hands behind his back. " **Do you remember what happened?** "

Mark blinked. He thinks back to when this all began. He remembers being trapped in that small jail cell. He remembers Jack finding him and how relieved he was. He remembers finding Nate and Matpat. He remembers Jack and Matpat suddenly walking off and disappearing. He remembers finding Jack tied down to a chair and participating in Mad's 'experiment'. He remembers fighting for his life as he and the ego brawl it out.

Then, he remembers a deafening 'BANG', followed by darkness.

Mark swallows and nods slightly.

Dark simply hums in response and turns on his heels. " **Blank, get this man a cup of water, now**."

In the corner of Mark's eye, he could see a figure. It was shorter than Dark himself by an inch or two and seemed to be very stiff and frigid; robotic even. He bent down and picked up one of the glass cups. It then proceeded to fill it with water from the nearby sink. Wait, they have a sink in here? And it works? So even if they are sociopathic maniacs they still pay their water bills. Huh.

The figure, Blank, moves towards the half-Korean holding the cup of water and holy shit this guy is a literal robot. His whole body is made of metal, except for his eyes which are made of glass. They shine bright blue, which matches with his blue hair. He has wires poking out of various places and is missing bits and pieces from his face and torso. He has the most stoic expression Mark has ever seen, but then again, he is a robot. Still, something about him nags at the Youtubers brain, something that he can't quite name.

"Who's this?..." Mark inquires. Maybe if he wasn't so tired then maybe he could figure out what it was about Blank that bothered him so much.

" **This is Blank. He is one of our more... Recent additions** , " Dark began. " **He's an Alter Ego, just like us. In fact, he's an Ego of one of your companions**."

Mark furrows his eyebrows. An ego of one of his friends? "...Who?"

" **I believe his name is Ethan**."

Mark's eyes widen in pure shock. He was an Alter Ego of Ethan. Ethan. That's why he bothered him so much. I mean, the resemblance between the two is uncanny. Mark almost stopped breathing. Just how many egos where there? Was there an Alter Ego for each of his friends and loved ones? Did everybody have an ego?

Mark sucked in air through his teeth. "Where do you guys even come from?"

Dark cocked his head to the side to face him. " **What do you mean?** "

"How... How do you guys even exist? I mean, what even are you?" This was probably going to be Marks only chance of getting answers. He won't screw up now. "Oh and uh, don't say that 'I'm your alter ego of course!' I want a legitimate answer, " he quickly added.

The ego stared at the half-Korean for a minute before sighing.

" **We're tulpas**."

"You're what?"

" **Tulpas. We are ideas that came to life and will continue to live until every single human being in existence forgets about us**."

"Oh."

Mark swallowed thickly. "How can an idea come to life?"

" **When idiots dabble into dark magic and discover morbid secrets that should be kept locked away from mankind, never to be seen ever again** , " Dark snarled.

"Wait, someone brought you to life?"

" **Yes, and now they're dead**."

Well, that was a heartwarming story.

Mark thoroughly examines Blank and the cup of water he's holding before gingerly taking it from him. He sniffs the water for any kind of indication that they've tampered with the drink. He found none. Well, it looks and smells innocent enough, but these were supernatural creatures he was dealing with. He takes a sip of his drink. It doesn't taste funny. So maybe he was a bit paranoid, but hey, he was kidnapped and trapped down here in this place that absolutely reeked.

He takes another swig of his drink. He doesn't feel any different yet; that was a good thing.

Dark readjusts the collar of his suit before speaking. " **I have some business to attend to. Blank, keep watch over Mark here** -" he points at the half-Korean "- **I expect you to behave**."

The ego turns to face the steel door and walks toward it before Mark calls out.

"Wait!"

Dark comes to a halt.

"What do you want with us?" Mark yells. "What are you planning!"

Dark dipped his head. " **Well, since you're already here, I guess it won't hurt to tell you. None of this will matter in the end**." His fist tightens by his sides. " **Nobody wants to die, not even us... Like I said before; when everyone forgets about us we will... fade away. Of course, none of us wants that. We want to live and be free, just like you**."

What was he getting at?

" **When we were brought to life, we already knew about the horrors of this world - the horrors of dying and being forgotten. This greatly angered us. We don't want to disappear. How do we make people think of us? We all thought and though until finally, we came up with an idea**."

Dark grinned ominously.

" **We will just have to... Borrow human bodies for us to reside in, and what could possibly make a better human host than our 'real' counterparts?** "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OUR BOI BLANK IS FINALLY HERE hellll yesss 
> 
> Oh and uh btw if you guys want a sequel tell me now otherwise I probably won't do it because I will think nobody would want it (so comment dammit)


	16. Funhouses Are Suppose To Be F U N

"What the absolute _fuck_ am I looking at right now?"

Those words were the only noise to be able to escape from Jacks lips. He gazed at the sight before him, unsure of whether to be confused or terrified. Matpat kept squeezing his eyes shut and then slowly reopening them, while Nate pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. But Jack knew better. Of course, this is also real, or, as real as it can be. After all, this may just be some kind of trick. Their reality, but just twisted - a lot more twisted.

"Okay, " Nate says, looking onwards at the gruesome sight. "I am officially traumatized."

Matpat laughs shakily. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there buddy."

Right before the Youtubers was a maze that resembles a funhouse at a carnival. Fun, right? Well, it probably would have been, if it wasn't the dangling corpses that hung from the ceiling. The bodies of these poor souls were torn apart and mutilated, chucks rotting flesh falling off their bones. Their faces were completely gone, most likely from being burned with acid. Intestines crept its way out underneath the greenish black, swollen skin of the carcasses. But the worst part of it was the smell. The odour the bodies radiated was absolutely horrid.

Jack covers his mouth and nose with his hand. "I think I'm gonna throw up..."

"Wait, these aren't _real_ , are they?" Matpat questioned, his body tense with alarm. "They can't be."

"I dunno..." Nate points to one of the corpses. It still looks fresh, their skin is pale, but not rotting away unlike some of the others. Their clothes were in tatters, wearing a simple white shirt, ripped jeans (though you couldn't tell they were intentionally ripped), and a leather jacket. They looked like some sort of biker. "Jack, you know that knife you found? Well, I think that might be his..."

Upon closer inspection, you could see that this man had a belt that's lined with all different kinds of knives. He carried a butterfly knife, a switchblade, a karambit and other unique weapons Jack has never seen in his life. What the hell was he going to do with all those knives? Maybe he had a knife collection hobby. Looking further, Jack could see an empty slot where the pocket knife he found on the ground would fit perfectly. He shuddered slightly. He must have used it to fight off the egos.

"So, a funhouse with corpses hanging from meat hooks, that's definitely not how I was planning on spending my Friday night, " Matpat says jokingly, trying to quell the panic that was bubbling inside him.

Jack takes a step forward gingerly. The black and white striped floor is stained with fresh blood and has clumps of decaying skin littered everywhere. He does his best to avoid the gore and tip-toes his way across the main room, over to where some sort of mirror maze begins. He peers inside the room, signalling Nate and Matpat to follow him.

He turns to them, keeping his voice no higher than 10 decibels, which is unusually quiet for him since he's supposed to be the loud Irishman after all. "We stick together _no matter what_ , got that?"

Nate and Matpat both nod in silent agreement.

Jack slowly enters the room, scanning every inch of it for any signs of danger. Once he's certain it's safe, he begins to make his way down one of the many pathways. He looks at himself in one of the funhouse mirrors. It distorts his features to make him look like an Irish gnome, shrinking him down to about 3 inches in height. Even so, he can still see that he's visibly shaking. If he can see it, then Nate and Matpat can see it too.

And he hates it. It makes him look scared because he _is_. Mark is gone and who knows where he is (well, most likely Dark knows, but he wasn't necessarily on their side). Mark had been Jacks anchor. He was there for the Irishman when he was first imprisoned down here in this cursed... Whatever this place is. He was there when he was captured and tortured by Mad. He was _always_ there.

__

Now he isn't.

It scares Jack.

"Do we even know what we're looking for?" Nate says suddenly, constantly looking over his shoulder searching for any kind of threat.

Jack thinks long and hard but comes up with nothing. He's completely stumped. God, he doesn't even know where to begin. All he's doing right now is blindly walking around in some maze. He could be waltzing right into one of the egos traps for all he knows.

Matpat on the other hand stops. He looks up at his two friends brightly, as if an invisible light bulb would appear above his head. "Did you guys notice anything about the egos that are particularly odd."

Nate just glares at him. "Uh, I don't know if you've noticed, but they are _literally_ evil versions of ourselves. But no, _of course_ , I haven't noticed anything 'odd' about them."

"No that's not what I meant, " Matpat says, seemingly taking no offence to that. Instead, he just continues. "I was talking about how they _smelt_. It's just... Oddly specific and striking to me."

Now that he mentions it, Jack does recall each ego emitting a unique foul odour of their own.

"When I was taken by Mare, I noticed he smelt a lot like, like..."

Nate tilts his head to the side trying to remember what he smelt when he had that fight with his alter ego. Now that he thinks about it, the ego kind of smells like..."...Old laundry detergent?"

Matpat points a finger at him. "Exactly!"

"You know, when I was taken by 'Mr Evil Genius', all I could smell was... "Jack scrunched up his nose in remembrance. "Burnt toast."

"Right?" Matpat agrees, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "Jack, do you remember what Dark smells like?"

Jack nods. "Gasoline."

"Then that's what we're looking for, " concludes the theorist. "We're looking for gasoline - well, the smell of gasoline."

Everyone agrees with Matpat's theory since it's the best (and only) thing they have to work with. They all focus their attention on the faint scent of rotten eggs and carcasses. It certainly wasn't pleasant, but hopefully, Matpat was right and they weren't sticking their noses in the air like idiots for no reason.

They all kept walking forward, still sniffing the air for any egos like homeless dogs searching for scraps. The mirror maze was as big as a labyrinth, twisting and turning, branching off into more tunnels. It was unbearable. When Jack made it home, he was definitely going to shatter every mirror in his apartment, even if it gives him over 100 years of bad luck. He was just so sick of seeing his warped reflection. _Good Lord, please give me a sign_ , he thinks. _Just give me something -_ anything _that isn't a mirror_.

The aroma of rotten eggs grows thick.

Crazed laughter pierces the silence, coming from every direction.

 _This wasn't what I meant_.

"O̶h̷,̵ ̵J̵a̸c̴k̸i̶e̶ ̴b̵o̷y̸~̷," the voice says in a sing-song tone. "C̶'̵m̸e̷r̸e̶.̵ ̸I̵ ̶w̵a̵n̴n̷a̴ ̶s̶h̶o̴w̵ ̶y̵o̶u̵ ̸s̷o̴m̴e̵t̵h̸i̷n̶g̴ ̸s̷p̶e̴c̶i̴a̶l̷."

Oh, of course, he has to do this now.

Of _fucking_ course, he has to face Anti.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> G̷̨̨̧͉̼̯̙̥͚͇̻̺͔̯͐̉͆͐̏͌̚͜͝͝ͅű̷̧̨̮̲̪̙͈̖̾̿́́̈́͜͝ę̵̛͔̙̣̥̜̰̖̻̌̍̈̋͗̅͑͛̓̐͊̕͘ş̸̣̗̭͔̣̜̞̜͈͙̘̓͌̚s̵̛͕͔͕̦̝̼͙̠̠̻̩͓͐̔͆̀̈̕͝͝ ̸̥͋͊͋̆̐̐̈́̂͂͆̅̿̒͘̕͝w̶̻̠̪̬̜̘̮̫͇̏̈́̐̽̐́͛͘͜͜͠ͅḫ̶͓̱̫͊̓͐̅͝ö̶͕̘̈́̂̆̈́̎̇̃͘'̶͕̦̗̙̞͔̠̘̊͌͋̒͊̓͋̿͂̊̎̀̇̍̚͝s̴̨͈̦̣̣̹͕͓͔̹̥̏̽̈́̿̾̍͗̚ ̵̨̡̛͇̟̝̩̠̳̖̮̲̏̈́̑̌͌̆́̆͑̀ͅb̵̡̧̗͉̳͍̠͎͎̪͉̐̊̉̃̑̐̾͐̔̚ͅȧ̷̢̢̜̺̱̳͕̗͖̪̮̤̺̭̭c̴̨͇̙̻͈̺̻̫̺͔̥̤̜̏̽̑͊͑̋̂̿̀ḱ̸̡̹͔͚̬̥̈̿́͑̀́̐̑́̌̐̕̕?̸̨͈̤͈̓̏̉̂̊̔͒͋̄͂͐̇̚̕


	17. Please Don't Get Worse Horrible Situation

The three Youtubers stop dead in their tracks. There it is, more distorted laughing, but where is it coming from? Left? Right? They even hear it coming from below them, sounding like the devil himself has finally managed to claw his way out of the depths of hell. Jack is confused but more frightened than anything. He's faced Mad and Dark, and he knows that Nate and Matpat have gone up against Mare, but Anti... They're travelling into uncharted territory here.

They all go back to back, their eyes darting from the mirror to mirror in hopes that they can find their foe in the reflection.

"I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Matpat asks, running his hand through his already ruffled hair.

Nate tries to smirk, though it falters as he hears another round of giggling. "Unfortunately, no."

Jack bites his lower lip. Nate, Matpat and himself are in a dangerous position right now. They're all open and vulnerable, a target just begging to be shot. Matpat dug his hand into his pocket and slowly pulled out the pocket knife Nate had given him. He's shaking right now, he knows it, but he tightens his grip on the knife anyway. Nate seemingly goes to do the same thing, reaching his hand into the pocket of his ripped jeans, before deciding not to. Jack looks at Nate raising an eyebrow.

_That's odd_ , the Irishman thinks. _What was that about? Is he hiding something? Is he-_

Jack is getting sick of people hiding things from him. Or maybe he's being paranoid. One of the two.

He grits his teeth. "Show yourself, you emo fucker!"

Manic, uncontrollable laughter erupts from the far end of the mirror maze hallway. "A̸w̶w̷,̸ ̷J̶a̴c̶k̸i̴e̵ ̷b̴o̴y̶~̶" Anti coos. "I̶s̴n̴'̶t̷ ̸h̴e̷ ̶a̸d̷o̶r̶a̵b̴l̷e̶ ̷t̴r̷y̵i̵n̴g̵ ̴t̷o̸ ̵i̵n̴s̴u̵l̵t̶ ̶m̴e̷?̶"

The Youtubers all turn around to face the direction of the source of the distorted voice. They all prepare to fight, steadying themselves for some sort of attack. They don't know what Anti's capable of, but at this point, they know it's not going to be anything wonderful. It's going to get messy, _really_ messy.

Jack squints, trying to get a better look at the far end of the hallway. That when a figure suddenly appears in his vision. From what he can tell, this figure is wearing a plain, black shirt and some ripped jeans. Their brown hair is also dyed vibrant green, which to Jack felt very familiar. In fact, maybe a little too familiar. As they saunter closer, he can see that they are smiling, exposing their fangs. The closer they get, the more potent the scent of sulphur is. The Irishman recoils at the foul odour. Jeez dude, do you not have showers down here?

Jack blinks, and the man disappears.

“What the hell, “ Jack hisses through his teeth, his eyes darting from mirror to mirror. “I'm not the only one who saw that, right?”

“Nope, “ Nate replied popping the ‘p'. “I saw that too.”

Matt pipes up. “That makes the three of us.”

Jack shifts comfortably, rubbing his arms like he can't get warm. He actually can't get warm, not down here anyway. It’s freezing. “Great…”

They all begin to shuffle down the hallway, peering into the mirrors to try and catch sight of the figure. They all face back to back with each other, not daring to leave even an inch of the maze left unchecked for. Already the trio was sweating, much to Jacks displeasure. They eventually reach a fork, cautiously poking their heads around the left and right corners before all silently agreeing to stick to the left. That's what you're supposed to do, right? Stick to the left wall in mazes.

Jack turns around another corner. In his reflection, he can notice how much he's sweating a shaking. He takes a deep breath, sucking the air through his teeth while closing his eyes. _I can do this. Yeah, I got this_ , he tries to encourage himself - desperately too. _It's three against one._

_Three Youtubers against one super powerful entity you know nothing about_ , his brain reminds him.

He scrunches up his nose. _Yeah, I'm not gonna think about that._

He opens his eyes - and quickly realises closing them was a mistake. A _huge_ mistake.

His breath hitches in his throat. He feels like he's going to suffocate because _where the hell did Matpat and Nate go?_ He spins around like a dog chasing its own tail as his eyes dart to every mirror trying to see them in its reflection. All he can see is himself though. He can see his eyes wide and full of panic. He can see that his chest is tight and aching. He can see that his hands and fumbling and flailing about. But he can't see _them_. He can't see his friends.

He feels a warm breeze on his neck giving him goosebumps. It's nothing but cold, damp and dark down here _so what the hell-_

“L̷̪͉̱̑̀͊o̵̳̯͑͐͠o̷̬̮͙̒̅͌k̴͇̥̪̾̔̔ ̴̹͝b̶̼̽̽̆e̴̛͖h̷̬͗͒͐͜i̵̤̞̅̃n̴̪̼̓d̶̖̝̼̈́̆͝ ̶͍̹̜̒̈ẏ̷̱ở̵̗͇̗u̵͕̽̈͠~̷̡͑͝"

All the air he had left suddenly leaves his lungs. He pivots on the back of his heel to face that damned voice only to be met with a face full of Anti’s fist.

Jack stumbles backwards, hitting his back against a mirror and slightly leans on it. He clutches his nose. Fuck, it’s bleeding and it hurts like hell. It's also slightly crooked. Oh God dammit it was broken. How was he supposed to explain this to the doctors when he gets back? ‘Uh, my evil counterpart kidnapped me and when I tried to escape through a funhouse mirror maze he found me and punched me in the face’. He groans slightly. He can't face Nate and Matpat looking like this. They'd probably deck him for getting hurt.

Still, he regains his balance, pushing off against the mirror towards Anti. He raises his fists at chest level and wipes some blood away. If he's going down then he’ll go down putting up a fight. If Anti’s going to make his life a living hell then, hell, so will he because _fuck you too buddy._

Anti smirks. “O̶o̵o̷o̴h̴~̷ ̵A̸r̶e̵ ̸y̵o̸u̸ ̸g̸o̶n̷n̴a̵ ̷f̷i̸g̸h̵t̵ ̷m̷e̴,̵ ̷t̵o̷u̸g̸h̸ ̵g̴u̷y̷?̶”

Jack ignores him and charges at him, raising his clenched fist in the air. He swings, but Anti ducks his head below, dodging the attack. Then he rockets up, hitting the Irishman in the lower jaw with his head. Jack falls back once more, massaging his chin while cringing in pain. Okay, yeah, that wasn't his best move, but that wasn't going to be his worse. Oh no, it's going to be so much worse.

He attempts to punch his look-alike in the stomach, but he abruptly glitches and disappears letting Jacks fist fly straight on to the mirror. He tries to come to a halt, but his body is already committed to the action. _Oh no_ , is his last thought before his knuckles collided with the glass. It shatters, bits of the mirror falling to the glittery black floor. He recoils from the glass shards, holding his bloody hand close to his chest profusely swearing. Pain flares from his fingers travelling all the way to his wrist. It hurts so bad, more so than his nose. He hopes he didn't just fracture his hand… Fuck, he fractured his hand, didn't he?

“J̷e̵e̴z̷,̸ ̶I̴ ̷w̷a̵s̴ ̴e̸x̶p̴e̵c̶t̷i̴n̷g̶ ̸m̶o̴r̵e̴ ̷f̵r̴o̵m̶ ̴y̸o̴u̶, “ Anti pouts, sounding disappointed.

Jack spins around to see Anti smiling at him. “B̶u̷t̶ ̸w̸i̸t̴h̸ ̶t̵h̵e̵ ̶w̵a̶y̴ ̷t̶h̸i̵s̸ ̸f̴i̸g̵h̴t̵ ̷i̸s̷ ̴g̶o̷i̵n̷g̶,̸ ̴I̴ ̷w̵o̷n̴'̴t̶ ̶e̶v̷e̶n̴ ̶h̴a̸v̵e̶ ̴t̵o̸ ̷l̶i̷f̶t̷ ̴a̶ ̴f̴i̵n̷g̸e̴r̴ ̶-̴ ̴y̶o̸u̷'̸l̸l̴ ̷j̸u̸s̸t̶ ̶b̴e̸a̸t̸ ̴y̵o̸u̷r̵s̵e̶l̴f̴ ̷u̶p̷ ̸.”

Jack mimics Anti’s smile with no teeth. “Oh, go fuck yourself.” Only a few minutes in and he's already done with his bullshit.

The egos smile widens. “Y̸o̵u̴ ̶r̸e̴a̵l̸l̴y̷ ̴n̵e̵e̵d̴ ̵t̶o̷ ̸l̷e̵a̸r̷n̷ ̴w̸h̷e̷n̷ ̴t̶o̶ ̶s̸h̶u̸t̷ ̷y̵o̸u̴r̷ ̶m̶o̵u̵t̶h̴.”

In the blink of an eye, Anti seemingly glitches in front of Jack. He swiftly punches the Irishman in the eye, followed by grabbing him by the collar and kneeing him in the stomach. Jack collapses to the ground, holding himself in pain.

Yep, it’s definitely going to get worse huh? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I missed last weeks update!!! I had to go to the dentist on Monday and my teeth hurting *so* bad for that entire week (I even had to fill out this stupid misadventure form cus I missed my math and English exam) so I apologize!! I want to upload the best stuff I can come up with (even though it's still trash) and I can't really do that while in constant pain. I'm. So. Sorry.
> 
> Also
> 
> BIG OOF MY FIC IS ALMOST AT (1000) VIEWS IM SO SHOOK???? like, ,, I wasn't expecting any views tbh but it's currently at 990 as I post this and I'm so grateful people actually accidentally clicked on this fic I'm crying rn
> 
> I love you all so👏Much👏


	18. Yeah, It Got Worse

Jack's on the ground, gritting his teeth in pain as he tries to understand how his decision of becoming a YouTuber has led him getting kidnapped by his evil twin.

Speaking of his evil twin, Anti's laughing at him, mimicking his expressions of pain. He's over exaggerating certain parts of it, enjoying making a fool out of himself a little too much. He's saying things to him, undoubtedly insults, but Jack can't hear him. All he can see is his lips moving, the ringing in his ears way too loud. His vision is slightly blurry from Anti punching him in the eye, and he internally laughs because _haha, Jacksepticeye, blinded eye, real funny Anti_.

Despite the searing pain that he feels in his stomach, he stumbles to his feet. He's nauseous, dizzy, and he's sure he'll pass out any second. His legs struggle to keep him up off the ground, but he forces himself to stand. The ego's already mocking him - he doesn't need any more encouragement.

"S̸t̵i̷l̵l̵ ̶g̶o̷t̸ ̶s̸o̴m̵e̷ ̸f̶i̴g̶h̶t̶ ̵l̶e̵f̸t̷ ̵i̴n̵ ̸y̴a̷'̶ ̶e̴h̸?̶" Anti says, unable to stop smiling at the bruised Irishman as if he was the funniest thing in the world. "M̸o̸r̵e̸ ̶f̸u̵n̴ ̵f̸o̵r̵ ̵m̷e̸,̴ ̷t̸h̴e̴n̶."

Through the intense aching that Jack feels all over his body, he grins. "Well, jokes on you, I've yet to use the ace up my sleeve."

Anti raises an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "O̸h̷ ̷r̶e̷a̴l̷l̵y̵ ̸n̵o̴w̸?̸"

Jack lets out a breathless laugh, because if this doesn't work then he's screwed. He knows that he only has one shot of escaping Anti and if he doesn't time everything perfectly then that's it. He's done for. There's no saving him. And Nate and Matpat would be next. Then it would be over. They failed. They never get to see their loved ones again. No more meeting fans, no more making thousands of people smile, no more telling the people that they care about that they love them so much.

So Jack books it. Where? Anywhere away from Anti. He doesn't care if it looks cowardly or shameful. He's not dying here. Not today. It isn't his time yet and he knows it. Plus, he still has to save Mark. That self-righteous bastard.

He's running, turns a corner, almost slips and keeps his body hand wrapped up inside his jacket, holding it close to his chest. He can't have a trial of blood in the floor leading Anti directly too him. A rookie mistake he can't afford to make. He sprints down a hallway before turning left, then right, then left again. He's running blindly into mirrors, and occasionally almost trips over his own feet.

He makes it to a corner and jumps around it, sliding to the floor. He lands on the sides of his legs and scrambles to a sitting position hidden behind the corner. He checks the reflections in the mirror, hoping none of them is giving him away. When he's sure he's in a spot where his location isn't given away by funhouse mirrors, he uses this moment to collect himself and steady his breathing. Sharp pain is making itself very well known to Jack, telling him that this is probably the most he has ever run in about ten years. He's unable to keep himself still, shaking profusely as he hangs his head back.

He stares at the ceiling and noticed the stars that are painted on it. He counts them all, giving his brain something else to focus on while the rest of his body reorients itself.

He hears a loud 'thunk' and flinches, his heart rate picking up speed already, again. Just as he thinks it's over for him, he hears someone scream.

"NATE!"

It was Matpat.

Jack crawls over to the edge and peers around the corner taking in the sight. Nate was sprawled over on the floor with Matpat hovering over him. The older man was shaking the musician, trying to wake him up. He was holding his breath too, taking in sharp inhales of air making his eyes sting. But from where Jack was, he couldn't see past Matpat well and seeing Nate's limp form...

Oh God, he thinks he's going to be sick.

"Nate, " Matpat says, his voice wheezy and brittle. "Nate, wake up. Please wake up. Nate. _Nate_."

Anti slowly makes his way over to them grinning maniacally, a hint of cruelty in his eyes. As soon as Jack's brain finally processes what's about to happen, he bolts over to him, only to come at a screeching stop as glass from the mirrors suddenly gains a conscience of its own and slithers in front of Jack like a barricade. He braces himself, planting his feet on the ground before raising his foot and kicks the glass with his heel. It shatters and for a brief moment, Jack is ecstatic because _holy shit I didn't completely fuck up my hand this time_ , only to see it reform, dread ripping a hole right through his heart.

"I̴t̸ ̸f̵e̶e̷l̵s̵ ̶h̴o̷r̸r̷i̴b̴l̷e̵,̷ ̵d̸o̶e̸s̶n̶'̷t̵ ̵i̵t̶?̶" Anti says to Jack, still keeping his eyes locked on Matpat and Nate in front of him. The sound of the shattering glass had snapped Matpat's attention from Nate to Jack to Anti, but he looks completely frozen. "B̶e̵i̵n̶g̴ ̸s̸o̸ ̸h̷e̷l̴p̸l̷e̶s̵s̷.̵ ̴T̴h̷a̸t̸'̵s̶ ̸w̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷I̴ ̸f̵e̵l̷t̸ ̴w̵h̶e̷n̸ ̵I̷ ̵w̶a̴s̴ ̶b̶o̵r̵n̶ ̴i̵n̴t̷o̴ ̷t̷h̴i̶s̵ ̶w̶o̸r̴l̸d̷ ̴w̴a̴t̸c̵h̶i̶n̸g̴ ̷y̴o̸u̷ ̵w̴h̸i̷l̵e̶ ̷I̷ ̸w̴i̵t̴h̶e̸r̴e̴d̷ ̷a̴w̴a̶y̸;̶ ̷h̶e̷l̷p̸l̶e̸s̶s̸."

Matpat blinks, unable to tear his gaze away from the ego descending upon him. He gestures to the glass wall separating him and Jack. "...You did that, didn't you?"

Anti hums. "Y̶e̶a̵h̵,̷ ̵I̷'̴m̵ ̶p̴r̴e̸t̸t̷y̸ ̸s̴u̴r̸e̵ ̷I̴ ̷d̸i̴d̶."

"And you can teleport from one place to another?" he continues. He knows that scientifically, it shouldn't be possible, but he swore he wasn't there a second ago.

Anti shoots him a look but responds regardless. "I̸ ̵s̷u̸p̶p̶o̸s̴e̸ ̸s̸o̷."

"Does that mean..." He swallows the anxiety rising in his throat. "Does that mean all of this... All the endless hallways, this mirror maze... It's all you?"

Anti tilts his head and smiles at him. "W̴e̷l̷l̴,̴ ̵a̷r̵e̴n̴'̴t̸ ̵y̴o̵u̵ ̸a̶ ̷s̶m̴a̴r̵t̴ ̵c̷o̶o̷k̸i̶e̵?̶"

The ego takes a step forward and Matpat flinches back, shuffling away from him while keeping an unconscious Nate close to him protectively. Jack screams something on the other side of the glass wall, pounding on it repeatedly. But no matter how loud he yells, it doesn't reach Matpat or Anti. All the noise between the two is cancelled out, unable to hear not even a single word the other is saying. He wishes he can hear the conversation his friend his having with his not-friend, but all he can see is their lips moving.

Anti towers over Matpat and grabs a fist full of his brown hair, forcefully raising him to his knees as he yelps in pain. He scrunches his eyes closed and claws at the hand pulling him up, digging his nails into the egos skin. Anti proceeds to smirk as he drives his knee directly into Matpat's chest, making him shout something incoherent. Anti tightens his grip and strikes him in the nose, letting him fall and curl up into a ball of agony. The man holds his bleeding nose, his breathing ragged and uneven. He's shaking and he's crying and everything just hurts. He wants Stephanie and his son. He wants everything to disappear and just _go away_. But Anti makes sure his presence is well-known as he repeatedly kicks his quivering form, burying his heel deep into his side.

Jack's now screaming at Anti for him to stop, punching the glass as hard as he can with both of his fists. Every time it breaks, it reforms looking even more brand new than before. He ignores the searing pain in his bloody knuckles and hammers away in blind desperation.

"C̴o̵m̵e̵ ̴o̶n̸, " Anti says, taking a step back. "G̶e̴t̵ ̴u̸p̶."

Matpat places the palms of his hands on the ground and pushes himself up onto his knees despite the aching all over his body. He grits his teeth and raises to his feet trembling, blood dripping off his chin. There are multiple bruises already forming on his face, one on his left cheek and another on his jawline. His eyes are also red and puffy from crying with tear stains on his cheeks. Yeah, he looks like shit.

"G̸o̷o̵d̶.̶ ̴N̸o̷w̵ ̷f̷i̷g̵h̴t̴ ̶m̸e̴ ̵w̵i̴t̵h̷ ̸e̸v̶e̴r̴y̵t̷h̸i̷n̴g̴ ̷y̴o̵u̴ ̶g̷o̷t̸.̶ ̷L̶e̴t̶'̴s̴ ̵m̶a̴k̵e̴ ̷t̴h̴i̸s̴ ̸e̶x̵c̸i̴t̴i̶n̶g̵ ̶f̸o̶r̸ ̴o̴u̶r̵ ̵l̵i̸t̴t̷l̶e̷ ̷a̶u̷d̵i̴e̸n̸c̷e̶." Anti gestures to Jack behind the glass.

Only then does Matpat notice Jack in the chaos of everything that's happening, and in the short moment of distraction, Anti makes his move. He teleports in front of the theorist and takes him by the wrist, tugging him forwards. Matpat hisses in pain as the ego tightens his grip right where his cuts and bruises are, making them sting all over again. Anti briefly smiles at him before teleporting once more, only this time he brings him with him. When they land, Anti grabs him by his throat and shoves him against the wall.

Everything is spinning. Matpat feels like he's going to throw up or pass out. Probably both. And he can't breathe because of Anti's crushing grip on his neck. The ego raises his fist and pounds away at his face, laughing and taunting him as he goes. Or maybe he's taunting Jack. Matpat can't tell. The ringing in his ears is just too goddamn loud.

Anti comes to a halt at the sound of someone's voice, though neither Jack or Matpat registers it.

"B̶u̶t̷ ̷D̴a̷r̷k̶i̸e̸, " Anti whines. "I̴'̴m̵ ̶h̸a̶v̸i̷n̷g̷ ̸s̸o̴ ̸m̴u̶c̸h̶ ̶f̸u̸n̶."

A pause, and then, "f̶i̷i̴i̶n̵e̴"

He releases Matpat and glitches away, suddenly gone from their view. The glass wall Jack was stuck behind falls, shattering into millions of pieces on the floor. Matpat collapses, struggling to process everything that happened. Is he alive? Yeah, he thinks so. Is he okay? No. Is Nate okay? His breath hitches. Oh God, _Nate_.

He scrambles over to where Nate is and rolls over his body so that he's lying on his back. Jack catches up to them, dropping to his knees.

"I think he's going to be okay, " Matpat says, scanning the musician for any signs of injury. "He's still breathing, though he's going to wake up with one killer headache."

Jack turns to him. "How about you? 'Cause you look like shit."

Matpat runs his hand through his hair. "I'll be fine." Because they can't be anything but fine right now.

The Irishman stands, his gaze travelling from a mirror to another. "Alright. You stay here with Nate, I'm going to get Mark."

"You're going to get Mark? In your current state?" Matpat shakes his head. "You're worse than me. I mean, just look at what you did to your hands."

"Matt, " Jack looks at him, and he's startled by the ferocity in his eyes. "We don't have a choice."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oopsy!
> 
> Yeah sorry for a kinda late chapter I got sick rip


	19. Logical And Emotional Thinking

Matpat sits beside Nate, who's still unconscious, and rests his head against a mirror. Jack had already gone, with that knife too. Now, it's just him, sleeping Nate and his own mind. Scary.

He's trying to sort out his feelings, really, he is, but he isn't sure what he's feeling right now. Maybe he's scared. Scared that his friends will die, scared that he'll never make it out of here, scared that he'll never see his family again. Being kidnapped, after all, was his worse fear. Those silly tales about monsters hiding under the bed or skeletons in your closet never fazed him because they were just that. Tales. A made up story used for scaring kids into doing what they're told.

But no, this is _real_. He's here, in an unknown location with three of his friends, running for their lives from something they still don't understand what it is. Are they superhuman? Are they clones? Are they monsters? Is this even real? Because it doesn't feel like it. Everything around him in unbelievable and mechanical, having this Alice in Wonderland vibe to it. Only nightmare version, that is. The whole concept of being kidnapped is a complex one, well, in his own mind away. You know it's real and you know it happens, yet you think 'this can't possibly happen to me'. But then it _does_ , and suddenly you don't know what to believe anymore. Everything is just so vivid and loud and cold.

And it doesn't help to know that his kidnappers are weird, probably extraterrestrial creatures. He thinks back to when he was kidnapped... A few hours ago? Yesterday? A week maybe? He's been down here for what feels like so long without any contact to the outside world and he's completely lost touch with time. He couldn't have been stuck down here that long. He's hungry and thirsty, but it's not like he's dying of dehydration or starvation. But whatever the length of time he's been trapped here is, he hopes it doesn't extend further.

Back to the whole kidnapped situation, he doesn't remember much. Everything is blurry like his own brain is trying to hide his own secrets from him. He was up late at night, writing a script for a new Game Theory episode when everything goes black. He felt a slight pinch in his neck - probably a syringe he guesses - and that was about it. Maybe he was struggling against his kidnapper? But he was sure he would have felt it. I mean, there were lingering bruises on his biceps that he didn't tell anyone because it just wasn't relevant, but surely?... God, he's so confused.

He also misses Stephanie. Oh, how he misses her. His wife, his best friend, the person who stuck around with his jobless ass for two years, pushing endless faith into him. When he woke up, he was hoping to wake up next to her, not in some dungeon. He's suddenly aware of how cold it is again, curling up into a ball and hugging himself to make up for the lack of warmth provided by Stephanie. Oh no, he's tearing up for the one-millionth time again. He sucks in a lungful of air but that only makes his eyes sting more. He blinks away his tears, sniffling as he stores his sadness away for another day. Right now, he needs to be logical, not emotional. He can't afford to let his misery get in the way of surviving this.

Or maybe he's embarrassed. For some reason, no matter how many times people tell you it's okay to cry, and that crying is actually displaying strength rather than weakness, pain is always something that felt personal to him. It's almost shameful, having to dump a bunch of your issues on to someone else because you can't handle them on your own. Especially if you feel that load is doing to harm them as well. Perhaps that's why he loathes asking for help. It feels dirty - like cheating. When he sees others breeze through life because they made all of these connections to bigger people, he gets upset. _Why aren't the hard workers being rewarded? Why is it those guys?_ He deflates a little. _Because that's just how life works_.

Nate stirs, groaning in discomfort as his eyes flicker open. He looks pale and completely out of it, yet manages to push himself up on his elbows.

"Hey, hey, " Matpat pushes, but not harshly. "You're gonna make yourself pass out again. Here-"

He helps the musician sit up straight, leaning against the mirrors with him. He stays quiet, waiting for when Nate's ready to talk because right now he might be a little apprehensive, his shoulders tense and still on high-alert.

Then, after a moment of breathing in and out, Nate opens his mouth and the words that spill out are ever as graceful as he usually is.

"...What the fuck?"

A nervous laugh rattles Matpat's lungs. "It's good to have you back, bud."

He tries to stand up but the older man gently pushes him down. "Save your strength."

"But... A-Anti... Where the hell is he?" Nate says in a lacklustre voice. He looks so tired.

"He's gone- Well, for now, he is." Matpat runs his hand through his bangs. "I don't know for how long though..."

Nate sighs. "Great."

  
The last thing Jack wants to do is wander aimlessly around in this stupid labyrinth thing again, but that damn half-Korean had crawled into his heart. Now, he has to go save his stupid ass.

He marches down through the mirror maze, pushing aside the killer aching he feels in both of his hands. Eventually, he's faced with an exit, a simple black curtain hanging in front on him. _Oh, now I find it_ , Jack thinks bitterly. He pushes aside the curtain and a bright, white light spills into his vision blinding him. He shields his eyes wincing, trying to get them to adjust to the sudden brightness of the next room. When he's sure his eyes won't burn out in his skull from the light, he cautiously takes a step into the next room.

His jaw drops at the sight. _No fucking way..._

"Mark?"

"Jack?"

There the bastard is. Lying right in front of him in a hospital bed (how do they have hospital beds down here?) is Mark Edward Fischbach. The man, the legend, the meme. Who? What? When? Where? Why? _How_? Okay, maybe Jack needs to sit down. This could be a trick set up by one of the egos. Or, he's lost it. He's finally lost it.

But it's him. It's really him. He sits up, and only then can Jack see the blood that's soaking his shirt. He cringes at the memory and tries to shove it down into the deepest parts of his psyche.

"Jack, what's going on? How did you find me?" Mark questions with concern slightly raising his voice.

Jack blinks. "I don't know. I was just in the funhouse maze and now I'm here-"

"Wait, " Mark cuts the Irishman off. "Funhouse maze?"

"I... I can't explain _how_ , okay?" Jack points to the black cloth dangling behind him. "Just know that there is a funhouse mirror maze behind that curtain, alright?"

The other man raises his eyebrow. "Okay?"

Jack rushes to his side, helping him out of his bed. He notices that Mark's bullet wound is stitched up and scrunches his face up in thought, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, he focuses his attention on his friend, helping him stand in his weakened state.

"Can ya walk?" Jack asks him.

Mark simply nods his head, most likely saving his strength.

"Good. 'Cause we're getting outta here."

This smells like a trap. It _is_ a trap. Jack knows it. But he tries to ignore his brain and follows his heart which is screaming out 'save Mark'. So he does. He helps him saunter out of the room, using his body as support. Mark was his arm snaked around the Irishman's back and grips his shoulder with all his might, but it's not as strong as he had hoped. They make it through the curtains, back into the funhouse, where Mark's eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh, shit, " he breathes. "You weren't kidding."

Soon enough, Mark and Jack make their way back to Matpat and Nate. When the Irishman saw Nate awake and alive, he beamed at him, in which Nate replied with a weak smile. He set down Mark next to Nate, letting him rest against the cool mirror. He looks up-tight, tension in his whole frame as he looks at the ground. Finally, he opens his mouth.

"Guys..." Mark begins. "There's something important I need to tell you."

Matpat hums. "What's up."

"You know how the egos brought us here?" Everyone raises an eyebrow.

Nate scoffs. "No, I don't."

Matpat tosses Nate a look. "Nate, _shut up_ , he's giving us answers." He returns his gaze back to Mark. "Continue."

"Well uh, " he thinks for a second, trying to find the best way to put it into works without causing panic. "I think they want to... Take over our bodies pretty much."

_Take over our bodies?_ Jack's mind races. _What the hell does that mean? Wait, he doesn't mean-_

"You don't mean-" Matpat echoes Jack's thoughts, and Mark nods.

"They're going to kick us out of our own bodies so they can wear them like suits so they can live human lives."

Well.

Shit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a warning... This fic is coming close to its end...


	20. Jack Did An Oospie

The four YouTubers are up and about again after a solid five minutes of relaxation, and honestly, Jack thinks he might be feeling better. Or maybe this is his body's last 'hurrah!' before it completely shuts down. Probably the second one.

His hands look like he stuck them in a blender, but he managed to clean them up and wrap them in bandages after revisiting that little hospital room Mark was being kept in. He's soaked in sweat. He most likely smells like a garbage tip and definitely looks like roadkill. He's tired. He's sore. He wants to go home. But he's here, stuck with these monster lookalikes who want to - not kill them - but steal their bodies. Funny how life works.

Mark went into further detail about them during their little break. He retold what Dark had told him and explained that they were actually tulpas, beings born from ideas. Now, Jack will admit, he doesn't know a single thing about tulpas. Is it even possible to get rid of them? How in the world do you kill an idea? Do you just get everyone to stop thinking or forget about them? If so, can every single fan who has ever thought of the alter egos please get amnesia and have all of the fan work delete? Hope that isn't too much to ask.

But in all seriousness, was this fight even possible to win? Jack has two majorly messed up hands, Mark has a goddamn _bullet_ _wound_ , Nate just got sucker-punched not even twenty minutes ago and Matpat, from the way that he winces when anything even slightly grazes his chest, probably has a bruised rib or two. Long story short, they _all_ looked like roadkill, and clearly weren't cut out for fighting supernatural creatures. Hey, they're YouTubers for crying out loud. They haven't been this physically active for more than a decade.

They make their way back to familiar looking hallways lined with small prison cells, and Jack realises that this is were they first woke up. They walked in one, whole circle.

It was Matpat who cries out in frustration, running his hand through his hair - he's been doing that a lot.

"I just don't get it!" he screeches, sounding more distressed than ever. "How is Anti doing this? We walked in a full circle... We should have found an exit by now."

Ah yes, Anti. Ever since the Theorist had figured out that Anti could literally warp reality, a lot more things made sense. But a lot more stuff also got even more confusing. First of all, how in the fuck? Jack doesn't remember ever thinking up that ability for Anti. Maybe some fanfiction author on Archive Of Our Own did. Secondly, how was that even possible? I mean, they _are_ supernatural beings but can't they at the very least obey the laws of science for once? You're making Albert Einstein rip his hair out all the way up in heaven. Leave the man alone.

"Maybe there's a way we haven't gone yet, " Nate reasons. "This place is huge."

Mark nods. "I agree with Nate. There is a lot of ground to cover." he pauses, then quickly adds. "But we are _not_ splitting up _ever_ again."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Nonetheless, everyone agrees. They've had enough Scooby-Doo moments for one night (day? Who knows).

As they continue to travel down the endless hallway - which, in finding out Anti can warp reality it really is endless, isn't it? - Jack's conscience screams at him. _This is a trap_. There was no way you could have found Mark that easily. Something is wrong. So wrong. But what is it? First of all, that horrid smell of gasoline is back. It has been since Jack first found Mark in that hospital room. Mark did state that Dark did visit him, So the scent must have lingered. He could tell that he wasn't the only one who smelt it too as the others are even more tense than usual. Second of all, it was unusually quiet. From past experience, Jack knew that something was coming. But what was that something?

Mark leads the group down the hallway. Jack stares and his back and frowns. He's not usually like this - walking so far ahead of the group. He's more like the person to stay at the very back so no one gets left behind. What's with the sudden distance?

"I think we might be getting close to something..." Mark says, not stopping or even acknowledging the group.

Nate raises an eyebrow. "Close to what?"

"Not sure..."

Nate turns to Jack and shoots him a look. The Irishman simply shrugs and continues walking - walking straight into something that is most definitely a trap. He wants to stop. He wants to scream or shout something. But every muscle in his body is one-hundred per cent dedicated to following Mark. Jack's frown deepens. What's holding him back? Why is he suddenly afraid to speak up? _He's_ the loud one for Christ's sake. Is he afraid of being wrong?

Mark comes to a halt. "I think I found something."

Jack, Nate and Matpat all look at each other but stay silent. Mark cautiously wraps his hand around the door handle and gently pushes it open. He peers inside, looking left to right multiple times before he's suddenly being dragged in by an unknown force.

Everyone practically _screams_ out for Mark and scramble after him, Jack almost tripping over Nate in the process. They all push each other through the metal door and into the dark room. How large it is? Jack isn't sure. He can't see anything. He can't even see or hear Mark. His heartbeat accelerates in his chest. No, no, no, where is he? Where is Mark? No, he almost lost him a few minutes ago this can't happen now not again-

They hear a loud 'CLANG' and whip their heads around to face the noise. The door... It's slammed shut.

"I'm **sorry** It has to **be this way**... I **really am**."

What the? Mark-

That's Mark's voice. No, That's-

"But **unfortunately** , there **is no other way**. **This** has **been a rather...** Difficult **decision to make. But know that your sacrifices won't be in vain**."

The darkness slowly retracts back, uncovering the room until finally, it's almost completely gone. It travels back to one spot in the surprisingly small and vaguely satanic looking room. The front of it, where a man is standing. A grey tuxedo, a dark aura, that blue and red 3D effect, the emo hair and eyeliner. Oh, how could have they been so blind? That wasn't Mark leading them to their doom.

It was Dark, and standing behind him was Mare and Mad, who, by all means, should be dead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, DoUbLe ChApTeR iN oNe WeEk??? Impossible.
> 
> Me last year with chapter titles: Trapped, Dark, Distorted Voices
> 
> Me now: Please Don't Get Worse Horrible Situation, Yeah It Got Worse, Jack Did An Oopsie


	21. Back At Square One

Jack was paralyzed, too stunned to move. So many questions whizzed around his head. First of all, whom the fuck? Second of all, how the fuck? And lastly, what the fuck? Mare and Mad are alive? But Nate and Matpat said that Mare was gone, and he saw Mad die with his own two eyes. Then, he remembers Mad's last words.

_We don't die..._

Oh.

He meant that literally.

Nate and Matpat are just as bewildered as he is, unable to look away from the egos - two of which should be dead but are somehow not - and take multiple steps back as the egos move forward.

"I don't understand..." Matpat says under his breath, sounding defeated and confused. "I saw you both die, how are you still alive?"

It's Mare who answers his question. " _Jeez, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. You can't kill an idea_."

Ah, there it is. That's what Mark- no, that's what Dark explained to them. That they're Tulpas; ideas that take on a physical form. So no matter how many times they destroy their physical body, they'll always come back because someone out there has thought them up and continues to keep them in their thoughts. Every piece of fanart, every work of fiction, it's all contributing to their power. And now that they have millions of fans each, they are more powerful than ever before.

" _It's a shame that we have to do this_ , " Mare says, though something tells the YouTubers that he isn't feeling as sentimental as he sounds. " _But hey, at least you made it fun for us. I'm gonna miss you guys_."

A soft groan could be heard from behind them, coming from the ground. Jack looks back to see Mark, tied down to the ground on top of a symbol that suspiciously looks like a pentagram. The only difference is that instead of a star in the middle it's an upside down triangle with a closed eye in its centre. The lines are drawn in red, and Jack can only hope to God that is not blood. But remembering all the bodies they found at the funhouse mirror maze it's not too far of a stretch. Still, he doesn't want to think about it.

He's also surrounded by red, white and black candles. There are about twelve that circle him, along with a bundle of three at each point of the triangle. They're all lit, the flames swaying like they're performing some satanic ritual. Actually, they _are_ performing a satanic ritual as far as Jack is concerned.

He tries to push down the thoughts of having some evil voodoo stuff done to them and focuses on Mark. He sprints to him, sliding on the floor as he kneels down next to the other man. He's covered in a thin coat of sweat, his black hair sticking to his forehead. But despite how disgusting and messy he looks he smirks at the Irishman.

"Took you long enough..." He mutters. So, he's conscious. Good.

Just as he says that Mad and Mare both lunge out at the YouTubers. Nate and Matpat both step out in front of the two in a protective stance, both holding their hands out in front of their chests like they're ready to fight.  
  
Nate grins at them. "We're not gonna let you ruin this beautiful Septiplier reunion, are we Matt?"

And despite himself, the Theorist laughs nervously. "Nope."

Jack rolls his eyes at the two and gets to work, cutting the ropes with his pocket knife. Those guys are such big dorks.

Mare smiles at them, his face lighting up at the thought of fighting one of them. " _Is that a challenge? 'Cause I love playing games with you guys_."

"Don't get too cocky, " Mad says, passing a sideways glance at the ego. "They got a lot of fight in them."

" _Good. Makes it more enjoyable to watch them struggle_."

Dark just stands there, quietly observing them. It's difficult to see what he's thinking about, but whatever it is, it's not good. Jack needs to hurry up.

Mad makes his move towards Matpat, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket. The older man reflexively scratches up his nose at the smell of burnt toast. He knows the drill; he's going to be punched in the face, blah, blah, blah. So, knowing that he can't escape his fate he smiles with no teeth.

"You guys really need to have a shower for once in your lives, " he remarks.

Mad flashes that same smile back. It's unnerving how similar they look and Matpat decided he doesn't like that at all, no matter how much he admires himself. "Oh, and you're gonna need one too in a second."

Matpat raises an eyebrow. "What? That doesn't make sense-"

Whatever he was going to say was quickly cut off by Mads fist finding its way deep into his face. He falls on the floor clutching his nose for the second time in the same hour. If his nose wasn't broken when Anti punched him in the face, then it certainly is now. His eyes are watering, and he's starting to bleed again. He has a theory, a real-life theory, and he hypothesized that if Matpat fights Mad then Mad will win. It's a pretty solid theory.

Meanwhile, Nate and Mare were having a full-on punch out on the other side of the room. Mare swung his fist to strike Nate in the face, but the Musician ducked just in time and he missed. He felt that one touch his hair. Close call.

" _I'll have to admit_ , " Mare says, rubbing his bleeding lip. " _You put up a good fight_."

"Right back at you." Nate uses this time to catch his breath, trying to stall for as long as possible. "So, you guys are immortal huh?"

" _Yeah, it's pretty cool I guess_."

 _Pretty cool I guess_. Way to rub it in.

Nate opens his mouth to say more, but it seems like Mare has different plans, as he also opens his mouth but not for the same reason. He starts singing a song only Nate can hear, and it's loud, and blistering, and sounds like screaming. Like ten people surrounded him with megaphones and just randomly started shouting at him. He covers his ears, falling to his knees in pain, but the screams are stuck in his head. It reminds him of Dissonant Whispers from Dungeons and Dragons - he guesses he's getting a taste of his own medicine. Touchè.

Jack's finally done severing the ropes that bound Mark without cutting something off, much to Mark's relief. But when they both focus their attention on what's going on around them, their hearts stop beating in their chests. Matpat's being held in a choke-hold by Mad, who's not making it easy for him to escape or even breathe. His face is going red, he's gasping for air and he's desperately clawing at the ego's arm trying to pry him off. Then there's Nate, who's on the ground, clutching his head screaming while Mare sings this wordless song that nobody can hear.

Dark hasn't even lifted a finger, and two YouTubers are down. Jack tried to muster up all the courage he has, but everything seems hopeless. _It's two against one_ , he reminds himself. _Two against one. You can do this_.

The Irishman charges at Dark, but he doesn't even get close. Instead, someone's arm snakes around his neck, pulling him away from his target. A distorted, manic giggle could be heard right next to his ear, making himself well aware to Jack.

  
"D̶̢͖͔̣̾̂̀͌́̂͛͊̊i̷̧̧̧̯̝̫͎̲͙̗̟͔͔͗̿ḑ̷̗͔͓̳͍̮̟͌̂̀̂̀̔̓̿̾̑̈́̑̃̍͜͠ ̵̢̛̗͓͈̯̟̰͖̳̗̩̦͙̃̈́̍̆͠͝y̶̛̠̱̐̂͛̓͆̍a̶̠͕̣̣͊̅͘'̸̧̙̠͔̪͎͓̤͇̺̐͛̾ ̵̨͔̠̬͈̦̺̘̰̟̘̹̭͇̮̀͗͌̋̐̆̀̕͠͝͝m̶͓͙̙͗̾̇̂̃̐̀͋͛̔͌͐́͝i̶̺͎͈͚̓̂̓̀̑͋͗s̶̼̞͖̪̙̗̬̰͛̈́̀̈́̃̊̊͒́͆̈̌̚̕͠s̷̡̠͍̠̤̝͙̤̖͉̺͑͗̊͊̍̎̏͂ ̴̧̬͍͇̙̟̯̬̤͇̣̦͓̟̀͂̈́̽̈́m̶͓̝̙͕͉̝̭̥͚͖̥̅͂̆e̷̡̼̝̝̝̰͂́̓͊͒͋́͐̾͊̄̈́͑̕͠?̷̧̙̠̭͎̭̇͋̎̆̅͋͒̀̊̄̊̃͋̈̂"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao, guys, I think I'm relapsing again because I ain't doing so hot but I think I'll be okay (hopefully) but I'm starting to really obsess about my calorie intake again and its really distracting me so sorry if these chapters aren't of good quality


	22. First We Had The Lucky Knife, Now Introducing... Convenient Handgun

Nate's down. Matpat's down. Jack's down. Guess Mark is the only one still standing - barely too.

Anti snatches the pocket knife out of Jacks grasp and throws it into the corner of the room, scolding him like a small child. He struggles but can't free himself from Anti, who, even though super skinny, displays a great amount of strength. As if that wasn't evident already since he did beat up three out of the four YouTubers here.

Mad drags an almost unconscious from oxygen deprivation Matpat over to another blood red sigil, similar to the one Mark was previously tied up on. Mare does the same to Nate, who's still covering his ears to shield him from whatever is causing him so much pain. Anti also makes his way over to the third sigil in the room, smiling as Jack shouts profanities at him while wriggling and kicking. Now, there is only one sigil left, presumably reserved for Mark himself.

As the egos hold their respective YouTuber captive, Dark finally speaks up. " **Is there really any point in continuing to struggle? It'd be easier and less painful to just simply... Give yourself up. Surrender now**."

Mark has to admit, that's pretty tempting - to accept his offer. But he's a stubborn asshole so of course, in true Markiplier fashion, he grimaces as he says "Oh, eat a dick you emo boyband reject."

Dark scowls at him. " **Watch your mouth, you worthless fool**."

The room suddenly drops in temperature as dark shadows slither over to Mark like snakes. It climbs up his legs, preventing him from moving a muscle. It wraps around his torso all the way up to his neck, threatening to suffocate him. It all feels very familiar, then Mark realises that this is exactly how he was taken when he was sitting in his recording studio minding his own business. So it was Dark then. That makes him think that all of the other egos had a hand in kidnapping the rest as well. That means they can leave this place. Not a good sign.

Mark tries to move forward, or in any direction for that manner, but he knows his efforts are fruitless. The shadows are tight around his form, and so, so cold. It makes him feel claustrophobic like he's going to die. But then it hits him. He _is_ going to die. Right now, at this very moment, he's going to die. And it confuses him. It seems so unreal that death is approaching so fast. He thought he was at least going to be able to maybe get married, have kids of his own, see them all grow up and become adults just like he is, grow old and then die. It's just all too sudden for Mark to process.

Maybe that's why he doesn't see Nate struggle to sit up. Maybe that's why he doesn't see him reach into one of his pockets. Maybe that's why he doesn't see him pull out the handgun that Mad previously owned and point it at Mare. Maybe that's why he doesn't recognize the sound of a bullet flying through the air as it plummets deep into Mare's chest, incinerating him in seconds. Maybe that's why he doesn't hear the shouts of protest around him, Mad yelling in shock, Dark in anger, Anti in joy (for some weird reason) and Jack and Matpat in surprise.

Dark is unable to contain the seething anger that's boiling underneath his skin. He glares at Mad, his tone deep and sounding dangerous. " **Mad. You didn't dispose of that disgusting human weapon?** "

"I thought it disintegrated along with me!" Mad rebukes.

" **No, you idiot** , " Dark begins raising his voice at the mad scientist. " **I knew you were too young to handle this!** "

"Well, I _am_ technically only two weeks old."

Anti, on the other hand, is completely opposite to Dark. He seems more unstable than ever, twitching uncontrollably. If his huge smile is anything to go by, he's enjoying this so much more than he should be. He takes pleasure in watching violence, Mark knew that, but he hadn't realised the extent of how much he actually craves it.

"C̵o̵m̴e̸ ̵o̴n̵ ̵D̵a̵r̸k̶i̸e̴,̷ ̵d̴o̵n̶'̶t̶ ̴m̵a̷k̷e̶ ̶f̷u̶n̸ ̸o̴f̸ ̵t̶h̶e̸ ̵n̷e̵w̶b̴i̸e̸, " Anti says, deliberately digging his sharp nails into Jack's soft skin making him wince. "L̷e̶t̷'̸s̸ ̷h̴a̴v̴e̸ ̷s̸o̶m̶e̶ ̸f̶u̵n̴ ̶i̴n̶s̴t̷e̸a̴d̶."

Anti shoves Jack to the ground, giving him a hard kick to the side before grinning at Nate. He glitches out of existence, then reappears in front of Nate with his fist raised. As he swings, he somehow manages to back out of the way and points the gun in between Anti's eyes. He's shaking so much right now, and he knows he only has five more bullets left, but there are only three of them so mathematically he should win. Yes, that's totally how this works. Because if it doesn't work like that then he's screwed.

"Adios, bitch, " he remarks before pulling the trigger.

The bullet hits Anti right in the face, turning him into a cloud of smoke. The sound reverberates throughout the room, making the shots louder than they already are. He turns to Mad and shoots...

...Only to regret it when he sees that the ego is using Matpat as a shield.

The good news is that it misses. The bad news is that it misses him barely, nicking the side of his head ever so slightly. Matpat closes his eyes screams at the feeling of the bullet flying past him, refusing to open his eyes and hyperventilates. Didn't see it, didn't happen. Didn't see it, didn't happen. Didn't see it, didn't happen... And he's crying for what, like, the third- fourth time tonight? He doesn't care though. He's too frightened to care.

Nate forces himself to exhale. Three bullets left.

"Oopsie~," Mad says in a sing-song tone of voice. "Don't want to kill your friend now do we?"

Nate swears under his breath but keeps his gun raised, pointed at Mad and his stupid, scarred face. Matpat finally gains the courage to open his eyes slightly, peering at Nate with desperation in his eyes. It's clear he's silently saying 'please save me' but Nate feels so clueless. He doesn't have a witty or sarcastic remark for once, and he doesn't know how to get Mad away from Matpat.

The theorist takes a deep breath and his eyes scan the room, making sure Mad can't see him of course, but clear enough for Nate. His eyes land on the pocket knife lying in the corner of the room, the corner being only three steps away. His eyes travel from the knife to Nate repeatedly, trying to send a message like he's blinking morse code. He may as well be. But Nate gets his message and nods slightly, backing into the corner. Good thing this room is so small.

Then, in a moment of brilliance, Matpat bites Mad's arm, not holding anything back. He tastes blood in his mouth, but he doesn't have time to care because Nate has already sprung into action while Mad is distracted. The musician slides the pocket knife across the floor, and Matpat manages to squirm his way slightly free of Mad's grasp, taking the knife. He raises it and swings down, impaling Mad in the stomach with is.

The ego recoils in pain, clutching his stomach and falls to the ground turning into smoke. Matpat runs his hand through his hair because _holy shit that was insane_.

They don't have time to celebrate their victory though as they are suddenly engulfed in shadows, a feeling of dread washing over them. It's cold, dark and constricting, sucking the life out of everything it touches. They feel weak as if a whole tank was dropped onto their shoulders.

Dark, who hasn't even budged an inch, smiles at them. It's a kind smile, but there is something sharp about it, something cold and unforgiving.

Meanwhile, Jack had been trying to claw the darkness away from Mark but made no progress. Only now does he realise what's going on and the severity of the situation. Oh, if he wasn't screwed back then when he originally thought he was screwed, then he is ninety-nine point nine per cent sure he is screwed times two now.

" **You put up a good fight, but...** " Dark says, the shadows slithering towards Jack. " **I'm afraid this is the end for you all**."

And, as much Jack hates to admit it, he thinks the ego might be right.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I toned down the craziness of the zalgo so its easier to read. Guess that means I have to edit every chapter with Anti in it now... How fun
> 
> Can't tell if I hate this chapter or if I just hate myself. It's actually both tbh.
> 
> Oh God I still ain't doing too good and now I gotta go out shopping *in public* I wanna fuckin die 1 kudos = 1 prayer 
> 
> You know what just kill me I hate life and everything it entails rn (as you can see I'm coping with my relapse ((should I even be telling you that or does that sound like a desperate cry for attention?)) well)


	23. Light In The Dark

Jack is standing there defenceless and scared. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to save his friends.

He twists and turns, avoiding the tendrils of darkness that chase him around. He shrieks and jumps over one of the stretching shadows, proceeding to run away from the onslaught of darkness. It's like a sick game of cat and mouse, only less fun and more horrifying. It's hard to keep constantly moving around especially when you've probably bled out a lot, super tired and having your adrenaline work against you. Isn't adrenaline supposed to keep you alive in these types of situations?

Half the room is already shrouded in darkness. Mark is so sick of this happening; being utterly useless. He thinks back to when he first woke up here in this hellhole and recalls being so helpless. He probably would've never escaped if it wasn't for Jack's efforts. When the Irishman disappeared along with Matpat, he had the task of saving him and he failed. He couldn't free him. No, Nate and Matpat did. Instead, he got shot in the shoulder and whisked away by Dark to some random room where he had to be saved. Now, once again, he's stuck here in the darkness, unable to move a muscle, and he has lots of muscle. He's sick and tired of playing the damsel in distress.

Jack's flailing around like an idiot on steroids right now, but he doesn't care. He doesn't even have time to notice that as he ducks under the pillar of shadows that threatened to punch him in the face. It almost feels like he's playing Dance Dance Revolution. Right, right, left, right, left, left, up, down, down, up. Perfect!! He must have a combo of 187 right now.

He tries to take a step back to dodge the darkness, but he twists awkwardly and loses his balance. He slips, the realisation that he just screwed up everything dawning on him. He also just broke his combo bring him much shame. As he falls onto his back, dark tendrils coil around his left foot making its way up to his ankle. He's shouting profanities while scratching away at the shadows, but it retaliates by jerking him towards Dark.

Mark's peering through the darkness, watching the whole ordeal play out. Jack is in trouble. Oh, Jack is going to die. Or worse, be turned into a flesh suit for Anti when he reforms. He begins to wriggle and squirm once more, trying to at least move his arms or legs or hands or feet or _something_ , but it's as if he were sinking in quicksand; the more he moved the more difficult it is to break free.

Jack's being pulled closer and closer towards Dark. The ego has a smug look on his face, grinning in satisfaction because he did it. He won. It's almost all over now.

Almost.

" **Such a shame, really** , " Dark chuckled. " **Your efforts have been for nothing**."

It's _almost_ over. And almost, is all the time Mark needs.

He struggles even harder, his arms, legs and torso aching in protest. He manages to somehow move his arm, prying it free of the darkness and stretching it out towards Jack. Just a little bit more. If he could reach out just a little bit more. It can't be over. Not while Nate has yet to sing more songs. Not while Matpat has yet to see his son Oliver grow up with Stephanie. Not while Jack has yet to make more of his fans smile. Not while Mark has them, his friends, to hold on to.

He closes his eyes and screams for Jack.

Then, there's light.

The darkness evaporates, encasing the room in pure white. Jack squeezes his eyes shut, shielding them with his hands while Dark screams something that doesn't quite make it to Mark's ears. Jack curls up and buries his head in his lap because everything is just so bright and it _hurts_. It hurts so badly. His skin stings while his eyes feel like they're on fire. The intensity of the light, wherever it's coming from, is overwhelming to the point where Jack wants to scream. Make it stop. God, _make it stop_.

And it does.

It dims down, prompting Jack to raise his head and slowly open his eyes again. He blinks away the pain, scanning the room to try and find what caused that. As he searches around, he sees that the darkness that had engulfed Matpat and Nate was gone, leaving the two stunned. That means... He looks over at Mark, and what he sees staggers him.

It's Mark but... But he's _glowing_. He's on the ground, observing his hands which are radiating a soft, white shimmer.

"I-I... How?..." Mark sputters, completely lost for words.

Matpat and Nate look at him absolutely bewildered as well, paralysed in fear and confusion. Was that Mark? Did he do that? But how? How in the world is that even possible? It's like the longer they stay down here the crazier life gets. Nothing is as it seems. Now Jack's wondering if any other of his friends are also in on this supernatural nonsense. It certainly wouldn't come as a surprise anymore.

Dark, for his part doesn't seem to happy. No, he's fuming, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth.

" **That's impossible...** " The ego growls, the rage in his voice amplifying the echo in his voice. " **I sealed it away myself!** "

Jack hears Dark's words but doesn't comprehend them. He sealed it away himself? Seal what away? What the hell is even going on anymore?

Dark lunges at Mark in a blind fury. " **I won't let it happen. Not ever again... Never again!** "

Mark is still too enraptured in his glowing skin to even process Dark running at him. Thank God Nate is a quick thinker though, as he immediately readjusts his grip on his handgun and fires. He misses his target, but much to his relief, Dark comes to a screeching halt at the sound of the bullet ripping through the air. He turns his attention towards Nate, his anger now directed at him. And now he only has two bullets left. Oh, joy.

He cocks the handgun once more and aims, pointing the barrel directly at Dark's chest. He's right in front of him. There is no way he can miss. He pulls the trigger, but a small hole opens up right in the middle of Dark's chest and the bullet flies through it. The hole then stitches itself but up, shadows lacing itself together until it solidifies back into flesh and bone. Oh, _oh_ Nate loves that ability. Totally isn't frustrating at all. So, he's untouchable. Untouchable and he only has one bullet left. This... Has turned into a rather complicated situation.

"Hey, asshat!"

Dark turns to face Jack, who flips him off with both hands. Oh, Nate sees what he's doing. Good thing Jack is incredibly loud.

He shoots again while Dark is distracted, and this time he hits him. The bullet rips through his chest, sending the ego in shock before exploding into a pile of smoke. Jack looks at Nate with just as much perplexity as Dark, only there's joy and relief behind it. It's because he's gone. They're all gone.

Matpat who had been on standby during the entire thing runs his hand through his hair, equally as surprised as Jack and Nate. He helps Mark off the ground while examining his skin, seeing that the soft glowing had faded away. He frowns but smiles at a very distressed Mark reassuringly. They can deal with that later. Right now, they need to get out of here.

Home. They get to go home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I didn't really notify y'all about the little break I took. Just needed to clear my head while I rest and try to get myself into a better place. 
> 
> I'm doing okay, though I could be doing even better, in my world okay is good enough. I'll try to be as open as I need to be without being too open (I have a little bit of an oversharing problem and really need to set some boundaries tbh) and say that yes, I'm still going to obsess about my weight. Yes, I'm going to panic whenever I see the number on the scale go up. Yes, I'm going to feel guilty for even thinking about food. Yes, I'm going to restrict and have urges to binge. Yes, I'm going to look at thinspo whenever I'm hungry. But I'm safe. I know how to handle these things and I have enough support to keep me afloat. I even have you guys, the people reading this, which helps me every day. Every time you read this, every kudos you give, every comment you leave below - it makes my day a little bit better. I apologize for sometimes disappearing. I know it can be very disappointing and I'll try to be better. As for now, I'm going to focus on self-care because that is what my mind and body need right now. 
> 
> Also, this fic is almost over and I'm getting so emotional??? Like, this is going to be the very first fic I ever finish and I'm just, ,, not ready? Like, I never thought if be able to finish it yet here I am staying all this??? Wow I am not prepared thank God there's gonna be another sequel to this lmao
> 
> I love you all and seriously, thank you. Thank you for venting about my Issues™ and thank you for supporting me. There are thousands of words in the English vocabulary and none of them can describe how grateful I am. Like geez I wanna cry rn I luv ya 💕💕💕💕💕


	24. Returning Home Safely

Mark takes a look around the room surveying the area. "I think we should- " he inhales shakily. "I think we should get rid of the pentagram things."

Jack scoffs. "Agreed."

Matpat is the first to do so. He takes the pocket knife and crouches down beside the sigil which he theorises was reserved for him. He uses the tip of the blade to scratch away at the blood, breaking the sigil. As he does so, the candles around it suddenly extinguish, leaving behind only a trail of smoke. He blinks at this, startled and confused. Then, he turns around to his friends wearing a wobbly smile.

"You think I did it right?"

Nate shrugs his shoulders. "Hopefully."

Nate is next to do so, taking the knife off of Matpat and kneels in front of his sigil. As he scratches away the bloody line, the same thing happens. All at once, the candles die as if a huge gust of air went through the room. But there wasn't. There isn't even a slight breeze here. It's perplexing, but they take it as a good thing. They don't need anything unlucky happening to them for the next twenty years.

Nate then gives the knife to Mark, who takes it with trepidation. He's still trembling, failing to believe everything that went down literally ten seconds ago. He looks at himself in the reflection of the blade. Most of it is rusty, but there are parts of it still clean and free of dirt, blood and sweat. He's pale, wide-eyed but there are no reminiscences of his glowing skin. It looked like nothing ever happened, that he didn't just turn into a human quasar.

"Hey, " Matpat says, putting his hand on Mark's shoulder. There's concern held in his oak brown iris'. "You okay?"

Mark swallows and musters his best smile. "Yeah, I'm good."

He runs the tip of the blade over a line of his sigil breaking it. The flames on the candles die, indicating that his work is complete. He sighs. Hopefully, this means Dark isn't coming back.

Mark passes the knife to Jack. The Irishman hastily scratches away at his sigil, followed by the candles flickering off. Just as Jack stands back up there's a loud, metallic noise that reverberates through the room. It sounds like someone has taken a large piece of steel and started twisting it near a microphone, the noise jarring on their ears. When it stops there's a loud crash, followed by silence.

Jack is the first to speak up. "You know what? I'm not even surprised anymore."

Nate sucks up the courage to look outside of the room, the only door opened itself when Dark disappeared, and peered through the small gap. After a moment, he opened it completely, revealing that everything outside looked... Normal. There was a well-lit tunnel with pipes running down the sides of the ceiling and multiple doors leading to other rooms. They all stepped outside wary of any danger but found none. They made their way down the tunnel and when they reached the end of it, they found a staircase.

They looked at each other, a sceptical look in their eyes because this has got to be the first time ever they found an end to a hallway. Nate went first, going up the stairs fading from view. After ten very long seconds, he calls the rest up. They take his word for it and follow his lead, going up the stairs until they halt at another door. Nate opens it and-

Light. Like, sunlight. Actual sunlight.

The small room they're in is made of brick, the floor being concrete but there are windows. Windows that reveal the outside world. They bolt towards the exit, pushing each other through the door when cool, morning air whips them in the face. They gaze at their surroundings, taking in all the trees, grass the birds and their joyful chirping. And there's a road too, a road that hopefully leads to civilization.

Mark takes a deep breath and for once it isn't the slightest hint of sulphur, gasoline, burnt toast or old laundry detergent. It's clean air. It puts a relieved smile on his face.

They walk around a bit, coming across a huge, black fence. It towers over them with barbed wire lining the top, so there's no crawling their way over it, and there's no possible way they can dig through cement. The follow the barrier to a large gate, but it's locked with a thick, heavy chain and padlock. They were locked in.

They hear someone approaching them and they tense thinking it's an ego, but when they turn around it's not. It's just a regular guy, wearing a bright orange vest, black boots and a hard hat. He's also wearing safety glasses and gloves and has a stubbly beard. He examines the YouTubers, taking in their injured and dirty form. His eyes widen.

"Holy shit, " he breathes. "I know you guys. You're those missing YouTubers."

Mark looks to Jack, Matpat and Nate before answering. "...What?"

"You're the popular YouTubers that's been missing for a little over a month now, right?"

Mark's breath hitches in his throat. A month. They were gone for a _month_. But, that can't be. He'd understand days, maybe even a week. He doesn't know how long he was unconscious down there for. But a month? A whole thirty days? That just doesn't seem possible. He can't wrap his head around the concept. But then again, they were being chased around by egos, so it probably isn't so ridiculous now.

Matpat takes a step forward though he's clearly shaken by the fact that he was gone for a whole month. "Uh, yeah..." he pauses then, "do you have a phone I can borrow?"

The man nods his head. "Yeah, I have my work phone. Here-" he digs his gloved hand in his pocket and pulls out a Samsung. "Take it."

He immediately calls his wife, if it wasn't made evident by his tears, who proceeds to call the police. They wait a while, calling their family and friends before they could hear sirens in the distance. Police cars and an ambulance were let in through the gates, the paramedics swarming them when they say their injuries. They were swiftly escorted to the nearest hospital, being cleaned and stitched up.

Stephanie was the first to arrive, followed by Mark's brother and the rest of everyone's family who was in America so forth. They didn't know what to tell the police, so they all claimed that they don't remember anything and that they were unconscious most of the time. Mark believes that some of them didn't believe him, but they let them be which he was grateful for.

After a few weeks, they were released, allowing them to finally return home. Word spread pretty quickly, with tributes being made for them and their return reaching trending on Twitter the moment they came back.

When Mark came back home he was immediately greeted with a face full of fur. Laughing, he cuddled his dogs back, enjoying their licks even if they are wet and drooling all over him. Many of his friends like Tyler, Ethan, Bob and Wade were more than happy to see him, enveloping him in a crushing group hug. When Amy saw him, she burst into tears and tackled him to the ground and he too turned on the water-works. They stayed curled up in each other sides for the whole day while watching movies and getting overly offended over trivial news.

But as he laid in Amy's arms his mind couldn't stop racing. There were five egos he knew of; Dark, Anti, Mad, Mare and finally, Blank. The others don't know about Blank because he never told them, and now he's starting to regret that decision. He doesn't know why. They are gone after all, and they're not coming back. Right? They destroyed the sigils, they destroyed the thing that kept them in physical form. But the thing is there were five of them.

So why were there only four sigils?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, this is the end of Ego-centric.
> 
> I am, ,, not ready for this fic to be completed so soon. Like I got emotional??? I wasn't sure if I could handle this fic having a tick to say it is completed on the tags??? Holy moly I am so grateful for you all. You stuck around to the end and put up with my venting bullshit I love you all so much 💕💕💕💕💕
> 
> This is not the end though!!! As I said I will make a sequel! There are still some questions left unanswered and an evil that is still walking this earth! There are many more secrets to be uncovered and battles yet to be fought. 
> 
> Of course, this next fic isn't coming out straight away. I still have to plan some things and make sure the outline for it is all good so I guess you should subscribe to the series Man's Ego so you know when I upload the next fic (w o w shameless advertising me you're like a YouTuber telling viewers to like, comment and sub)
> 
> Again, really, I can't thank you enough. This has been a wild journey of improvement, developing my writing skills and discovering what I like and what I don't. This has been the first fic I have ever completed.


End file.
